"We are going to Mosul to free them from ISIS," Haider al-Abadi told a reporter for state-run Iraqiya TV at the Qayyara airbase south of the city.
He also had a message for the estimated 5,000 ISIS militants holed up in the city: "There is no way to escape, either surrender or die."
He urged the city's beleaguered residents, who have suffered under the ISIS yoke since June 2014, to stay indoors. He also said they should resist ISIS-propogated rumors, and do what they can to prevent ISIS from destroying the city's infrastructure.
