Tens of thousands may be used as human shields in Mosul

The long-awaited offensive was launched on Monday, with some 30,000 federal forces involved in Iraq’s largest military operation since the 2011 pullout of U.S. troops.

As many as 5,000 IS fighters are believed to remain in Mosul.

Aid groups are bracing for a potentially massive humanitarian crisis.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which is operating in northern Iraq, said about a quarter of a million people could be made homeless in just the next few weeks.

“Urban combat is never fast and it’s never easy”, he said.

However, he stressed that it was “very unlikely that there would be a mass exodus of IS fighters to Europe”.

Thomas de Maiziere admitted that authorities expect IS fighters originally from Europe to attempt to return as the group come under further pressure – but he said work is ongoing to minimise the threat.

“I don’t want to talk the risk down”, he added.

A total of 20 villages were taken from the militants east, south and southeast of Mosul by early Tuesday, according to statements from the two forces, fighting alongside one another for the first time.

For now, violence is limited to the villages on the city’s outskirts.

On Monday, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said a small number of US troops were serving as advisers to Iraqi and peshmerga forces on the outskirts of Mosul. It’s expected to take weeks or even months.

How are civilians coping in Mosul?

Turkish Prime Minsiter Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that its air force has been involved in coalition airstrikes to clear the second largest Iraqi city off ISIS.

Just hours after the offensive began, IS claimed responsibility for a suicide vehicle bombing targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Baghdad that killed at least 10 people.

Progress was swift on the first day of the operation, as coalition forces advanced on the oil-rich northern city, retaking more than 75 square miles of territory and wresting nine villages from ISIS control.

Phone lines had been re-established with the city in recent days, giving residents access to a free phone line.

“People are also locking up their belongings, fearing that Daesh could steal them as they flee and also that riots and looting could break out after the liberation”, the father of three said.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there are 10million people in Iraq in need of humanitarian assitance.

Kurdish security forces take up a position overlooking ISIS-controlled in villages surrounding Mosul on Monday. It involves a wide array of forces approaching the IS-held city, Iraq’s second largest, from different directions.

Yesterday, General Commander of the Armed Forces, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, announced the start of battle to liberate the city of Mosul from the grip of ISIS. The anticipated recapture of the Sunni-majority city by a diverse coalition of forces holds the promise of improving some of Iraq’s most troubling trends.

But after two years of brutal IS rule, opposition has reportedly grown inside Mosul.

Speaking in a press conference his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Ayrault said that the meeting would gather more than 20 countries and worldwide organizations to come up with a plan to protect civilians, distribute aid and address questions about governing areas newly liberated by the Daesh group. Nearly a dozen villages had been taken yesterday, and more than 77 square miles liberated southeast of the Isis stronghold.