An injured Iraqi Emergency Response Division (ERD) soldier hit by a mortar is held by another officer as they wait for medics to arrive at the Islamic State occupied Mosul Airport in west Mosul, part of the offensive to retake the city some two years after it fell to the hardline jihadist group, February 23, 2017. Iraqi forces encountered stiff resistance with improvised explosives, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance before they successfully took the airport. (Photo by Martyn Aim/Getty Images)

Iraqis run for cover as they flee Mosul's Al-Tayaran neighbourhood on February 28, 2017, during an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the area from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Hundreds of civilians fled through the desert to escape fighting and privation in Mosul, joining thousands of others who left their homes as conditions worsen in the city's west. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Iraqi women cry over their brother's body, who was killed by a mortar shell fired by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on civilians who were gathered to receive aid, in Al-Risala neighbourhood on March 22, 2017, as an ongoing offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the city from the group continues. Iraqi forces launched a major operation to recapture west Mosul – the most-populated urban area still held by IS – on February 19, and have retaken a series of neighbourhoods from the jihadists. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Men are held by Iraqi national security agents, to be interrogated at a checkpoint, as oil fields burn in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, November 5, 2016. Islamic State fighters launch counterattacks in the thin strip of territory Iraqi special forces have recaptured in eastern Mosul, highlighting the challenges ahead as the battle moves into more densely populated neighborhoods where coalition air power must be used more selectively. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

In this Saturday, June 24, 2017 file photo, Zeid Ali, 12, left, and Hodayfa Ali, 11, comfort each other after their house was hit and collapsed during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq. The Ali cousins said some of their family members are still under the rubble. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo/File)

A man takes a selfie in front of a fire from oil that has been set ablaze in the Qayyarah area, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, on October 19, 2016, during an operation by Iraqi forces against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists to retake the main hub city. In the biggest Iraqi military operation in years, forces have retaken dozens of villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple assaults for October 20. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/AFP Photo)

Soldiers with the Afghan National Army (ANA) at an outpost in the Momand Valley on July 16, 2017 in Achin District, Afghanistan. The building was previously used as of a jail by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – Khorasan (ISIS-K) and was taken by Afghan Commandos nine days prior. Operations are currently underway to remove ISIS fighters from Nangarhar Province in Eastern Afghanistan. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)

In this Sunday, May 29, 2016 photo, fighters take a selfie while firing artillery during fight against Islamic State militants in Fallujah, Iraq. Iraqi forces this week pushed into the city's southern sections after securing surrounding towns and villages more than 50,000 people are believed to be trapped inside the Sunni majority city, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad. (Photo by Anmar Khalil/AP Photo)