Mosul offensive

Iraqi paramilitaries launched an operation on Oct. 29 to retake the town of Tal Afar from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and cut jihadist supply lines from Mosul to Syria, a spokesman said.

The United States said Oct. 27 that up to 900 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists have been killed in the offensive to retake Iraq's Mosul, as the United Nations said more than 10,000 people fled their homes and camps around the city filled with fleeing civilians.

Turkey is considering deploying more troops to the Bashiqa military camp in northern Iraq due to the increasing threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), if the Ankara-Baghdad talks on the status of the camp fail, sources have told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık met U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter in Brussels on Oct. 26, the second meeting in five days, as two countries ramp up joint efforts to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. 

As Iraqi forces were inching closer to Mosul, the Western defense chiefs from the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) met in Paris to review the offensive on the jihadist bastion.

Turkey is participating "in a multi-faceted way" in the operation to retake Mosul province from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and four Turkish F-16 jets are part of the anti-ISIL coalition forces, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has stressed.

Iraq's joint operations command on Oct. 24 denied Turkey was participating in military operations to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The Mosul Operation started on Oct. 16. Till now, we discussed the issue from the viewpoint of the strategies conducted by the Iraqi Army, the Peshmerga and the coalition forces.

This time we will look into the red forces. What will the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) do? How will they defend the city? 

Turkish artillery units are shelling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group in Bashiqa near Mosul, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Oct. 23, hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visited the Bashiqa military camp.

Turkey is not taking part in ground operation for the liberation of Mosul in Iraq, although Ankara has been in talks with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to declare a safe haven in the north of the country, Turkey's prime minister said.

"There are air and ground units in the coalition forces. Turkey will take part in the air units," Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said.