Report: Kurdish Ground Forces Retake 7 Villages Near Mosul

Hours after Iraqi forces began their long-awaiting move toward the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, opening an their offensive east of Iraq’s second-largest city, Turkish state media said early Monday that Kurdish ground forces had already taken control of seven other villages on the city’s outskirts. The showdown with the jihadis could effectively end the terror group’s occupation of land in Iraq, after it was already forced out of Fallujah, Ramadi, and Tikrit. U.S. warplanes provided aerial support as an anti-ISIS coalition bombed targets in Mosul overnight. More than 1 million Iraqis are living in the city.