French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday that Iraqi forces supported by international strikes are working to encircle Takfiri group, ISIL’s, stronghold Mosul.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday that Iraqi forces supported by international strikes are working to encircle Takfiri group, ISIL’s, stronghold Mosul in preparation for the battle to retake it.

"We are in the process of surrounding Mosul to prepare for the battle, which will be tough," Le Drian told journalists in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Le Drian, on the second day of an unannounced trip to Iraq, said warplanes from a US-led coalition, including four from France, had recently struck ISIL command centers in Mosul, located in the country's north.

On Monday, Le Drian said that Mosul and Syria's Raqa, another key ISIL-held city, "must fall" in 2016.

Le Drian's remarks were the most specific timetable for the cities' recapture given by a member of the US-led coalition against the Takfiirs, which has been reluctant to comment on the expected pace of operations.

The coalition is carrying out strikes against ISIL and providing training and other assistance to forces fighting the insurgents.