The Iraqi joint forces killed, on Sunday, 20 extremist elements affiliated to the Islamic State (ISIS). They also destroyed two vehicles belonging to ISIS in a pre-emptive operation, west of Mosul. While senior military commander confirmed that all the military supplies are available to liberate Mosul, and they will determine the timing of launching the operation soon, referring to the participation of the Iraqi air forces and the international coalition aircraft.

Major General Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, a top commander in the Iraqi special forces, said in a press statement they are ready for the liberation battle of the right coast of the city of Mosul, and they work on determining the time in which the liberalization process initiated by the General Commander of the Armed Forces, indicating that the position is good, actually "easier than we expected," he said.

 Six weeks into their offensive, government forces say they have captured almost half of eastern Mosul and killed nearly 1,000 jihadis, but their progress has slowed as they move into the city proper – where one million residents remain.

The Iraqi government asked civilians to stay in their homes, after humanitarian groups said they could not cope with hundreds of thousands displaced from the area.

But despite the slowing pace of the invasion, both military and government leaders have said the Isis fighters were losing momentum.

“We have seen the whole organisation collapsing in terms of standing in the face of our own armed forces,” Mr Abadi told The Associated Press.

“The success of liberating a huge area indicates that Daesh [Isis] does not have the guts now or the motivation to fight as they were doing before,” he added.

Al-Abadi said Mosul was now completely encircled and that the speed with which the area was secured had surpassed his expectations.

He declined to say how many government troops have been killed since the operation began six weeks ago, but said the rate of battlefield losses was sustainable.