Iraqi forces are poised to retake several key areas around Mosul, including the country's largest Christian town, Qaraqosh to tighten the noose on the terror group Islamic State's stronghold.<br/>Kurdish peshmerga forces prepared to attack IS positions on several fronts north of Mosul while federal forces worked their way up the Tigris Valley. Units from Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service, which has done the heavy fighting in most recent operations against IS, are poised to flush IS terrorists out of the town.<br/><br/>East of Mosul, forces are poised for an assault on Qaraqosh, which lies about 15 kilometres and was once Iraq's largest Christian town. Qaraqosh was the largest of many Christian towns and villages seized by the IS terrorists who swept across the Nineveh Plain east of Mosul in August 2014.