Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (L) listens to EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini after posing for a family photo at the end of an EU-Iraq Cooperation Council, at the European Council in Brussels on October 18, 2016. / AFP / EMMANUEL DU
Brussels: Iraq is helping defend the world against the Islamic State group through its campaign to retake the city of Mosul, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said on Tuesday.
He also said IS jihadists, who seized Mosul in 2014 and declared a caliphate, were trying to use civilians as human shields as tens of thousands of soldiers advanced on Iraq's second city.
"We are not only doing this to defend ourselves; we are doing this for all the countries of the world," Jaafari said after talks in Brussels with EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini.
He said IS fighters came from some 100 countries and their ideology spread easily in conflict zones when governments failed to stand up to them.
"Iraqi military forces are ... ensuring the least possible losses and damage will occur," he told reporters.
"We did this in Fallujah and also for Mosul because we know that our opponents are trying to use civilians as human shields to hamper our progress," he added.
The US military said earlier that Iraqi forces looked "ahead of schedule" but the battle is expected to be long and difficult.
Retaking Mosul would deprive IS of the last major Iraqi city under its control, dealing a fatal blow to the "caliphate" the jihadists declared after seizing large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
