Mosul offensive

Iraqi forces have "liberated" 352 square kilometers of territory south of Mosul since a wide-ranging military operation began earlier this week to recapture the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an Iraqi police commander said Oct. 19. 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is due to visit Turkey on Oct. 21, after Ankara and Washington agreed on Turkey's participation in coalition forces' aerial campaign in the Mosul offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).  

Carter will travel to Ankara as part of a weeklong Middle East and Europe trip, according to the Pentagon.   

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr staged a protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad on Oct. 17 after the cleric called for protests to demand that Turkish troops leave the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, which has caused a row between the two countries. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said an Iraqi delegation will visit Turkey by the end of the week, probably on Oct. 20, stressing that both Ankara and B are willing to solve the political dispute between them through "dialogue."

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced early on Oct. 17 that an offensive had begun to retake Mosul, the country's second biggest city, from under the occupation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The operation to retake Mosul from ISIS has began. Watch as the Iraqi forces advance towards the city. More than 1 million civilians remain trapped in the city.

streaming courtesy Ruptly

Turkey said Oct. 17 that it was taking necessary measures against a possible refugee influx from Iraq and Syria, as an operation was launched to take Iraq's Mosul back from jihadists and Turkey-backed Syrian rebels indicated their next target was Syria's al-Bab following the capture of Dabiq on Oct. 16.

Turkish Airlines canceled its flights to Arbil and Baghdad on Oct. 17 due to the U.S.-led military operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Doğan News Agency has reported.

Turkey sent a delegation to Baghdad on Oct. 17 for talks with the Iraqi administration, aiming for Baghdad to reconsider its objection to Turkish troops stationed in northern Iraq.

Ankara cannot be excluded from the operation launched to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 17, stressing that Turkey continues to be under threat from that region.