Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State set to storm airport, clear way to western Mosul

Iraqi security forces' members are pictured in the liberated part of Albu Saif village south of Mosul, Iraq February 21, 2017. REUTERS REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi forces closing in on the Islamic State-held western half of Mosul prepared on Tuesday to storm the airport and a nearby military base on its southern outskirts to create a bridgehead for a thrust into the city.

Since ousting the militant group from eastern Mosul last month, Iraqi forces have advanced in sparsely populated outlying areas but fighting will intensify as they near the teeming inner city of western Mosul and the risk to roughly 750,000 civilians there will rise.