Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that Iraqi forces were moving faster
than expected towards Islamic State’s 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 Islamic State 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 Islamic
State, which grabbed vast stretches of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Retaking
Mosul would signal the defeat of the ultra-hardline Sunni jihadists in
Iraq but could lead to further sectarian bloodletting, something the
Baghdad government and its international backers are keen to prevent.
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, to avoid falling into the sectarian violence that
has torn it apart since a U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in
2003.
“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 Islamic State, 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 Islamic State fighters were already fleeing from Mosul.
“We
must be exemplary in chasing down the terrorists who are leaving Mosul
for Raqqa,” he said. “We cannot accept success as allowing those who
were in Mosul to disappear to other locations where they can then launch
attacks.”