Iraqi minister: Sunni province of Anbar key to launching operation to retake Mosul from IS

Zionist Union party co-leadersr Isaac Hezcog and Tzipi Livni greet supporters at the party's election headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2015. Exit polls from Israel’s national elections showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party nearly deadlocked with Isaac Herzog’s center-left Zionist Union. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) (The Associated Press)

Smoke rises after clashes between Iraqi security forces and allied Shiite militiamen and Islamic State group extremists in the Qadisiyya neighborhood in Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

BAGHDAD – Iraq's defense minister says the Sunni province of Anbar remains key to launching the long-awaited operation to retake Mosul, the country's second-largest city, from the Islamic State group.

Khalid al-Obeidi told reporters on Wednesday that before Iraqi forces can even plan the Mosul operation, they must "secure" Anbar so that it cannot serve as staging ground for militant counterattacks.

Anbar, west of Baghdad, was the first province to fall under Islamic State's control during the group's blitz last year.

Al-Obeidi's remarks reflected the challenges Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, face as they try and claw back territory captured by IS.

At the moment, Iran-backed Iraqi soldiers and allied Shiite militias are fighting to retake Islamic State-held Tikrit, an offensive that is taking place without U.S. airstrikes.