Kurds, Shi'ite fighters to coordinate after sealing off Mosul
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ERBIL/BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Kurdish and Shi'ite forces agreed to coordinate movements after cutting off Mosul from the rest of the territory held by Islamic State in western Iraq and Syria in support of a U.S-backed offensive to capture the city, US and Iraqi officials said on Thursday.
The agreement was reached at meeting on Wednesday between commanders of Kurdish Peshmerga forces deployed in Sinjar, west of Mosul, and Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organisation, the biggest component of the mostly Shi'ite paramilitary coalition known as Popular Mobilisation.
Popular mobilisation, or Hashid Shaabi, deployed southwest of Mosul to complete the encirclement of Islamic State's last major city stronghold in Iraq.
