By Ali Jawwad 

BAGHDAD

Iraqi forces on Thursday launched an anticipated offensive to recapture the northern city of Mosul from the Daesh terrorist group. 
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the first phase of Operation Fatah (Conquest) has been launched to liberate Nineveh province – of which Mosul is the provincial capital – from Daesh. 
Nineveh operations commander Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri said eight villages on the outskirts of Mosul have been captured. 
"Military operations are underway as per the plan to liberate Mosul," he said.

The joint operations command earlier confirmed that the Iraqi flag has been raised in four captured villages as part of the offensive. 

The head of the Nineveh security committee, Mohamed Ibrahim, said security forces will be deployed in the captured villages. 

"Security agencies will start dismantling landmines planted by terrorists," he told Anadolu Agency. 

Ibrahim, however, did not give details about any casualties during the anti-Daesh offensive. 

Iraq has been dogged by a vicious security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh overran Mosul – the country’s second-largest city – and declared a self-styled “caliphate” in parts of Iraq and Syria.