The operation to liberate Tal Afar, one of the last pockets of IS-held territory in Iraq, has begun.
Making the announcement on state television, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued this warning to IS militants.
"My message to Daesh. You have no option, you either surrender or die. I promise you today that we will continue the liberation process. We prevail in all our battles against Daesh while they face death and defeat in all their battles."
A US-led coalition is providing air support to the Iraqi troops, carrying out dozens of air strikes in the past few days.
It comes a month after US-backed Iraqi forces liberated Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, from IS after a nine-month campaign.
While it was a major victory, parts of Iraq and Syria still remain under IS control, including Tal Afar, where militants have held a tight grip since 2014.
The city, with a pre-war population of 200,000 is 80 kilometres west of Mosul, and is much smaller.
But experts say it's central to the campaign to defeat IS.
Arash Ari Aramesh is a Texas-based national security and foreign policy analyst.
He says the battle to retake Tal Afar is significant because it's both strategically and symbolically important to the insurgency.
"The fall of Tel Afar and the collapse of Tel Afar into the hands of Iraqi government means a) a significant, logistical and sort of combat blow to ISIS, but also a significant symbolic blow because what keeps ISIS or the caliphate relevant is controlling actual territory and actual ground."
Tal Afar, which has produced some of IS's most senior commanders, is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi'ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.
It was cut off from the rest of IS-held territory in June, but according to US and Iraqi military commanders, 2,000 militants remain there.
Intelligence from inside the city indicates they've been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and a lack of fresh supplies.
But they're still expected to put up a tough fight.
Mr Aramesh says IS is increasingly losing ground in Iraq and in Syria, meaning they're also losing status and relevance.
"Once they lose all their major strongholds and controlled territory in Iraq and Syria, at that point, how relevant are they? And that's a big question. I think they're going resort to more lone-wolf attacks and sort of symbolic magnificent attacks, but ISIS becomes less and less relevant as an Islamic caliphate day after day."
Aid groups are warning the operation could trigger a humanitarian crisis, with increased airstrikes already forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Haissam Minkara, the US Oxfam Deputy Country Director in Iraq, says the lack of medical supplies, services, power and food in Tal Afar, has been driving civilians out of the city.
He says their journey to safety is incredibly difficult.
"The closest areas where people can get support or be received in any of the screening sites where humanitarian organisations like Oxfam are present, providing emergency food supply and drinking water, is hours and hours of walk in the desert under the temperature of 50 degrees, that people are going through to get out of Tal Afar."
The United Nations International Organisation for Migration estimates that between 10,000 to 40,000 people are left in Tal Afar and surrounding villages.
The Iraqi military says preserving their safety during the campaign remains a priority.
But Melanie Marquam, from the Norwegian Refugee Council in Iraq, says it's difficult for aid groups to monitor the situation there because they cannot get into the city.
"Our staff were in villages around the city in the last couple of weeks, and they know food and water are in very short supply. Over the last few days, it's been reported to us by the government of Iraq that 14,000 people have fled, they do show signs of severe emotional distress."
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