Egypt expresses its solidarity with the Iraqi government and people in light of the launch of coordinated military operations to retake Mosul from the Islamic State militant group on Monday, foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said on Monday.
Iraqi government troops and Kurdish forces, backed by the US-led coalition, have started a push to liberate Iraq's second-largest city, which has been under IS rule for more than two years.
In a statement on the ministry's official Facebook page, the spokesman said Egypt hopes the operation will be successful, adding that terrorists groups as the IS militants "cannot withstand the will of peaceful people."
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced the start of the long-awaited operation on state television, pledging that it would lead to the liberation of all Iraqi territory from the militants this year, according to media reports.
The northern city of Mosul is still home to more than a million civilians, although almost half a million people have fled the city since 2014.
The battle to retake Mosul will be the largest military operation in Iraq since US troops left in 2011 and, if successful, the biggest blow yet to the IS group in Iraq.
