Kurdish forces retake Iraqi villages outside Mosul
More than 100 US troops are embedded with Iraqi forces
Armed forces closing in on Mosul said on Tuesday they had secured some 20 villages on the outskirts of the city in the first 24 hours of an operation to retake the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq.
With air support from a U.S.-led coalition, government and Kurdish forces edged closer to the city as smoke darkened the blue sky above one Islamic State of Iraq and Syria position, apparently from oil fires ignited to hamper the incursion and make it harder to land airstrikes.
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A Pentagon spokesman says more than 100 U.S. troops are embedded with Iraqi forces, including the Kurdish Peshmerga, as they advance toward Mosul.
The spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, told reporters Tuesday that the Americans are "well back" from the front lines as they advise the Iraqis and perform other tasks such as relaying information received from frontline Iraqis about potential ISIS targets for coalition airstrikes. Some hundreds of other U.S. troops are in support roles such as processing intelligence and providing logistical help from Iraqi staging bases.
Davis said U.S. warplanes are supporting the Iraqis, as expected, and that American artillery is being used against ISIS targets. He would not be more specific about the use of U.S. artillery.
Earlier Tuesday, Iraq's Kurdish forces had said they are pausing in their advance after capturing the villages to the east of Mosul, as the Iraqi army presses ahead with the next stage of the assault.
Col. Khathar Sheikhan said his troops achieved their objectives and "are just holding our positions."
The pause comes after a day of intense fighting involving airstrikes, heavy artillery and ISIS car bombs.
Thousands of troops involved
With a population of 1.5 million, Mosul is the largest city under the control of ISIS, which seized swathes of territory in both countries in 2014, and its recapture would be a "decisive moment" in defeating the militants, according to U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter.
But the urban battle ahead — in a city four to five times larger than other towns seized by ISIS — poses both military challenge and humanitarian challenges, with the United Nations warning of an exodus of up to a million people.
About 4,000 to 8,000 militants are thought to be dug into Mosul, while the forces assembled to drive them out are estimated at 30,000, including Iraqi army, Kurdish and Sunni tribal fighters.
More than 5,000 U.S. soldiers are also deployed in support missions, as are troops from France, Britain, Canada and other Western nations.
The Iraqi army is attacking Mosul on the southern and southeastern fronts, while the Kurdish militia, known as the Peshmerga, carried out their operation to the east.
The Peshmerga, who are also deployed north and northwest of the city, said they secured "a significant stretch" of the 80-kilometre road between Erbil, their capital, and Mosul, about an hour's drive to the west.
Humanitarian challenges
The UN refugee agency said it had built five camps to house 45,000 people and plans to have an additional six in the coming weeks with a capacity for 120,000. That would still not be enough to cope if the exodus were to become as big as feared.
An official said the UN expects people to start fleeing Mosul "basically any minute now."
Spokesman Jens Laerke of UN humanitarian aid coordinator OCHA told reporters on Tuesday in Geneva that "we haven't seen any big rush out yet" from the city.
The battle has also raised fears of sectarian and ethnic revenge killings in territory retaken from the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim ISIS.
Amnesty International urged Iraqi authorities to keep Shia paramilitary groups away from Mosul, which has a largely Sunni population.
The rights group said the Shia-led government in Baghdad would bear responsibility for the actions of the militias, known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which are officially considered to be part of the country's armed forces.
"There can be no justification for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture or arbitrary detention," said Amnesty International's Philip Luther.
France's foreign minister is pulling together an urgent international meeting for a stabilization plan for Mosul as the push to free the city from ISIS advances.
Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Tuesday that he and his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim a-Jaafari, would gather more than 20 countries and international organizations to come up with a plan to protect civilians, distribute aid and address questions about governing areas newly liberated by the Islamic State group.
The meeting is expected on Thursday in Paris.
With files from The Associated Press