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Iraqi Forces Push toward Mosul
(Washington Post) Kareem Fahim and Loveday Morris - A force comprising thousands of Kurdish and Iraqi army soldiers wrested territory from the Islamic State outside the northern city of Mosul on Monday, facing occasionally fierce resistance at the start of an offensive against the extremists' main stronghold in Iraq. In a televised address, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi called the battle the most ambitious offensive launched by Iraq's security forces since they were created after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The forces pushing to play a role in Mosul's liberation include Kurdish peshmerga, Sunni tribal fighters, Iranian-backed Shiite militias, and government units supported by the U.S. American troops are helping to coordinate logistics, conduct planning, and oversee the air campaign, and are expected to move forward with Iraqi forces and peshmerga as they advance on Mosul.