Iraqi forces push into southern outskirts of Mosul

IRBIL, Iraq — Iraqi security forces pushed into the southern outskirts of Mosul on Monday, the second day of a new offensive to drive the Islamic State from the western half of the beleaguered city.

Iraqi helicopters fired rockets at a hill in the village of Abu Saif that overlooks Mosul's airport and provides militants with a defense on the southern approach to Iraq's second-largest city, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, police in armored vehicles were moving toward the Ghazlani military base on the southwestern outskirts of the city, according to the AP. 

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched an offensive Sunday to drive the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, from its last stronghold in the country in an operation that risks triggering a massive humanitarian crisis.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the move to retake control of western part of Mosul, saying in a televised statement, "Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror" of ISIS. The militants captured the city in 2014.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said while traveling to Iraq for an unannounced visit Monday that the United States does not intend to seize Iraqi oil. The statement is a shift from a proposal by President Trump that has rattled Iraq’s leaders, along with his inclusion of Iraq in a controversial executive order temporarily banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries.

Iraq last month declared that it had "liberated" eastern Mosul from ISIS but the fight for the western part of the city will be far tougher because of its narrow streets and dense civilian population, which will limit the use of airstrikes and armor.

An estimated 750,000 civilians, half of them children, are still trapped in western Mosul by several thousand ISIS fighters. The United Nations estimated 250,000 to 400,000 civilians may flee, needing emergency refugee camps that are currently under construction.