MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called on the US-led coalition to avoid civilian casualties in the battle to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

“We hope that our American partners, and in this case our French partners as well, will act selectively and do everything to minimise — and even better, to rule out — civilian casualties,” Putin said in a televised news conference on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in India.

“We of course are not going to fan hysteria over this matter, like our partners in the West do, because we understand that we need to fight terrorism, and that there is no other way apart from active fighting,” he added.

IS seized Mosul along with other areas of Iraq in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground from the militants and — backed by a US-led coalition that includes France — are preparing for an assault to retake the city.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Syria, Russian airpower is currently backing up an offensive by government forces on militant-held eastern Aleppo that has sparked accusations of potential war crimes from the West.

The launch of the operation to recapture Mosul is expected to be announced soon