Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Back for his question and for his interest in this particular area of Defence operations, particularly in his capacity as chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee.

The liberation of Mosul, which is Daesh's last major stronghold in Iraq, does represent a critical juncture in the campaign to defeat Daesh. The liberation campaign commenced on 17 October and I met to discuss the campaign's progress with my coalition counterparts in Paris two weeks ago. From that meeting, I can report, and we have seen the media reports subsequently, that the operation to liberate Mosul is indeed making progress. The Iraqi and the Peshmerga forces, supported by the international coalition, are making steady progress, and they have now moved from the isolation to the clearance phase. It is important to note that this is a complex military operation and it will take time.

The coalition and the Iraqi government recognise that as forces progress into the city the fight will become more difficult, and we expect Daesh's resistance to increase. The Mosul urban fight will be close, tight and tough, complicated further by the necessity to protect the civilian population.

Also, in the last 24 hours the Syrian Democratic Forces have announced the commencement of operations to liberate Raqqa from Daesh. As US Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, has said, 'the effort to isolate, and ultimately liberate, Raqqa marks the next step in our coalition campaign plan.' We expect this fight to be particularly tough, given Raqqa's symbolic significance as the capital of the so-called caliphate. Daesh is under increasing pressure in Iraq and Syria. It is losing territory, it is losing finances, it is losing fighters and it is losing battles. It is important that we maintain and sustain this momentum.