World Bulletin / News Desk

 Iraqi security forces on Wednesday -- backed by air and artillery support -- began advancing on Mosul airport located west of the city of the same name, according to high-ranking Iraqi security sources.

“This morning, joint forces -- comprised of federal police and rapid-response forces affiliated with Iraq’s Interior Ministry -- began progressing towards the Mosul airport," Police Captain Uday Mohamed told Anadolu Agency.

Mohamed noted that Iraqi ground forces were receiving air and artillery support from a U.S.-led coalition drawn up to fight the ISIL terrorist group.

The Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command said Wednesday that the “liberation” of the airport represented a “primary strategic objective” on the way towards retaking the city from ISIL.

Army Brigadier-General Yahia Rasoul, a spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, told Anadolu Agency that the airport, once captured, “will be used as a launch-pad for liberation operations in western Mosul”.

On Sunday, the army began a wide-ranging operation aimed at purging remaining ISIL terrorists from Mosul’s western districts. 

The offensive comes as part of a wider operation launched last October to retake the entire city, which ISIL overran in mid-2014.