Following months of preparations, the Iraqi army and Kurdish 'Peshmerga' forces backed by the US-led coalition have launched an operation to recapture the Islamic State-held city of Mosul. The city is considered-to-be the most significant stronghold of the extreme Muslim group in Iraq, from where the leader of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014.
To discuss the operation and its significance, I'm joined in the studio by;
Guests Doctor Ephraim Kam, Senior Researcher - the Institute of National Security Studies; and Doctor Nir Boms, Research Fellow - the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University. Analyst: Mr. Amir Oren.