In the arsenal being prepared for the Mosul offensive, the element of surprise is most prominent by its absence. The forthcoming assault has been repeatedly flagged from Baghdad to Washington and over the skies of the city itself, where on Tuesday seven million leaflets were dropped warning the offensive was imminent, the largest such drop since the Second World War. Mosul, once Iraq’s second largest city, still has a population of one million people. The presence of so many civilians will be the single biggest complication in the battle to retake it from Islamic State. Trumpeting the looming offensive so…

Source: The Times September 23, 2016 23:03 UTC