Iraq launches Mosul offensive to drive out Islamic State

By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces, with air and ground support from the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, the militants' last major stronghold in the country. The United States predicted Islamic State would suffer "a lasting defeat" as Iraqi forces mounted their biggest operation since the U.S. withdrew its own troops in 2011. Some 30,000 Iraqi soliders, Kurdish Peshmer