Mosul offensive going faster than expected: Abadi

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that Iraqi forces were moving faster than expected towards ISIS stronghold of Mosul, and that the coordination between Shi'ite militias and Kurds showed Iraq's unity in opposing the group.

Foreign ministers and senior diplomats from several Western and Middle Eastern countries were meeting in Paris to discuss how to restore peace and stability to Mosul after ISIS has been routed from its Iraqi stronghold.

Speaking on a video conference call from Baghdad, Abadi said all efforts were being made to create humanitarian corridors for civilians fleeing Iraq's second-largest city, where some 1.5 million people still live.

"The forces are pushing towards the town more quickly than we thought and more quickly than we had programmed in our campaign plan," Abadi said.

Iraqi and Kurdish forces said on Tuesday they had secured some 20 villages on the outskirts of Mosul, the biggest city under the control of ISIS, which grabbed vast stretches of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Abadi said human rights violations would not be accepted. He sought to try to reassure international backers that his country was entering a new phase of cooperation.

"Our war today in Mosul is an Iraqi war conducted by Iraqis for Iraqis and for the defense of Iraq's territory," he said, stressing that it was the first time in 25 years that Iraqi forces had entered northern Kurdish territory to fight together.

"Full Iraqi unity is shining through and more than ever showing the unity to vanquish terrorism," he said.

The Paris meeting will seek to put together some guidelines on how to administrate the city after the departure of ISIS, but also protecting civilians and providing aid.

In his opening speech, French President Francois Hollande said, however, it was also important to begin planning a separate offensive on the group's bastion Raqqa in Syria, where he said ISIS fighters were already fleeing from Mosul.




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