Iraqi Shi'ite forces stop ISIS on syrian border
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Iraq's Shi'ite paramilitaries launched an offensive on Friday to drive Islamic State from a desert region near the border with Syria as security forces fought the militants in the city of Mosul.
Spokesman Karim al-Nouri said the target of the operation was the Qairawan and Baaj areas about 100 km west of Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are advancing in their campaign to rout the militants from city.
Seven months into the Mosul campaign, Islamic State has been driven from all but a handful of districts in the city's western half including the Old City, where it is using hundreds of thousands of civilians as human shields.
The paramilitaries have been kept on the sidelines of the battle for the city of Mosul itself, but have captured a vast, thinly populated area to the southwest, cutting Islamic State supply routes to Syria.
