Ahmed Badr al-Luhaibi † (71st Brigade commander)[1] Arshad Sanaa † (Peshmerga commander)[2]CJTF–OIR: Iraq: Military of ISIL ISF: 20,000–25,000 soldiers[15] Total: 12,000–20,000[20] Major insurgent attacks Foreign interventions IS genocide of minorities IS war crimes Timeline The Shirqat offensive, codenamed Operation Conquest or Operation Fatah, was an offensive against the positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in and around the district of Al-Shirqat District to reach the city of Mosul.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces didn't take an active part, contenting themselves with holding the front line at what they consider the border of their territory.

[65] IraqiNews.com reported on 2 April that 40 ISIL militants had been killed by government forces in different regions south of Mosul, including six suicide bombers and one senior leader.

[67] Later on the same day, the Iraqi Army killed 30 militants and detonated a booby-trapped vehicle in the village of al-Nasr, in Makhmur District south of Mosul.

[70] The Iraqi government released footage on 7 April that showed an airstrike conducted by the coalition forces in Mosul which destroyed a bridge that was being used to ferry supplies by ISIL.

In addition, the government claimed that a number of militants had been killed in the airstrikes, as well as other roads and bridges used as supply lines by ISIL being cut off.

Coalition aircraft carried out seven airstrikes near Mosul, hitting six groups of ISIL fighters as well as two vehicles, three weapons caches, a mortar system and other targets.

[83][84][85][86][87][88] On 6 May, coalition aviation conducted an aerial strike on a gathering of ISIL forces in the village of al-Ju'wana in the district of Makhmour, resulting in the death of 20.

[94] On 12 June, the Iraqi Army started a renewed offensive south of Mosul to capture the village of Hajj Ali, on the banks of the River Tigris.

On 7 July, the Iraqi Army captured an area on the Tigris River to the southwest of Haj Ali, linking up two fronts, and besieging an ISIL pocket containing 100+ villages and the town of Hawija.

[103] On 2 August, the Media War Cell reported that pro-government forces had recaptured the public road and al-Hathr junction as well as the surrounding villages from Qayyarah base to Tlul al-Bj.

[104] On 5 August, media officials in the Ministry of Defense announced that an ISIL Sharia Court and an explosives factory had been destroyed in Mosul in airstrikes carried out by Iraqi Air Force.

[105] On 13 August, Nineveh Operations Command announced the recapture of al-Jadaa, Zahilila, Ajba and Jwan villages south of Mosul by Anti-Terrorism Directorate and the 9th Brigade of Iraqi Army.

[113] On the same day media officials of Ministry of Defence announced that Anti-Terrorism Forces captured four villages by the names of al-Hawish, al-Jawa'na, al-Jubla and al-Ghazeya.

[117] On 21 August, the US-led coalition killed four ISIL militants and destroyed 12 vehicles belonging to the group which they were planning to set ablaze in order to obscure vision of pro-government troops.

[124][125] 23 car bombs of ISIL were destroyed in the clashes and dozens of fighters including a Chechen leader of the group Abu Futuhi were killed.

Army officer Shaeb Lafta said that Iraqi troops had captured several areas, oil refineries and buildings including the main government complex as well as killed an ISIL commander Abul-Futuh al-Shishani.

[142] On 4 September, the anti-ISIL coalition carried out an airstrike on a car-bomb manufacturing factory in Tal Afar, destroying it completely while also killing seven militants.

[147] On 11 September, 18 ISIL fighters were killed and seven were injured in an airstrike carried out by the anti-ISIL coalition in Shura area and Kahara village of the Nineveh Governorate.

[155] On 17 September, a senior leader Tamas al-Shishani was killed along with several other militants in an airstrike carried out by the anti-ISIL coalition near al-Shur which is located south of Mosul.

[170][171] However clashes were still ongoing in the city on 22 September, with the Iraqi Army stating it had captured the center of the town, the mayor's office, the municipal building and the hospital.

[175] Later in the day, Shirqat was fully captured by pro-government forces with Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the military's joint operations command, declaring on state television that the town had been "liberated from the desecration of terrorism".

[177] On 23 September, the US military reported that ISIL had started digging trenches around Mosul and were pouring oil in them in order to defend against the upcoming assault by Iraqi Army on the city.

[180] ISIL's Wali (governor) of Shirqat, Abu Omar al-Assafi was arrested on 25 September while trying to flee among the displaced civilians by disguising as a woman.

[185] Turkish troops as well as fighters of Popular Mobilisation Units station in Camp Zilkan which is located north of Mosul, were shelled by ISIL on 1 October.

[188] Also on the same day, a booby-trapped drone launched by ISIL militants killed two Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and wounded two French soldiers in Erbil.

[198] On 12 October, Iraqi and American officials reported that in order to defend the city, ISIL was preparing car bombs and deploying explosive devices in dug-up holes in major roads to Mosul.

[199] On 13 October, it was reported that the group cut four main bridges linking the two sides of Nineveh Governorate using concrete blocks and had also raised the state of alert of its fighters.

[38] On the evening of 8 May, ISIS members executed eight civilians by firing squad in al-Ghazlani camp in central Mosul on charges of collaborating with the opposing security forces, ISIS members filmed the execution of the civilians after being sentenced to death by the so-called Sharia Court in Nineveh Province and threw the bodies in a hole in western part of the city.

[citation needed] On 29 July, the group executed 20 civilians alleging that they were cooperating with pro-government forces according to the head of the Nineveh media center.