Iraqi government launches offensive on west Mosul

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Prime minister announces start of military operation to take back ISIL's last major urban territory in Iraq.

Iraq's prime minister has announced the launch of a military assault aimed at taking western Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Iraqi police and interior ministry forces were expected to start the new phase in their offensive to take control of the entire city by moving on Mosul airport, located on the southern edge of the city, to the west of the Tigris river.

"We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming to Nineveh to liberate the western side of Mosul," Haider al-Abadi said on television.

Mosul is ISIL's last major urban territory in Iraq.

"Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh [ISIL]."

"[Mosul is] flanked from the eastern side by counterterrorism forces, from the south by the Iraqi police, and from the north by the Iraqi military and the po[CENSORED]r mobilisation forces, also known as the Shia militias," he said.

He said about 750,000 civilians are still believed to be trapped in the city's west.

Aid organisations had feared an exodus of unprecedented proportions before the start of the fighting, which began four months ago with a government push on the east, but a significant majority of residents stayed home.

Residents of the west bank have reported difficult living conditions and warned that they were already low on food, with weeks or months of fighting expected to lie ahead.

The Iraqi air force had on Saturday dropped leaflets on the west of the city, warning that a ground attack to push ISIL fighters out was imminent.