Iraqi forces were inching to within striking distance of eastern Mosul on Tuesday as defence chiefs from the US-led coalition met in Paris to review the offensive on the jihadist bastion.
With the Mosul battle in its second week, French President Francois Hollande called for the coalition against the Islamic State group to prepare for the aftermath and the next stages of the war against IS.
Forces from the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) retook areas close to the eastern outskirts of Mosul, IS's last major urban stronghold in Iraq. "On our front, we have advanced to within five or six kilometres (three to four miles) of Mosul," their commander, General Abdelghani al-Assadi, told AFP.
"We must now coordinate with forces on other fronts to launch a coordinated" attack on Mosul, he said, speaking from the Christian town of Bartalla.
Kurdish peshmerga forces are making gains on the northeastern front, but federal forces advancing from the south have some way to go before reaching the outskirts.
Meanwhile, thousands of men from the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary umbrella group dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias were preparing for a push to the west of Mosul.