Iraq's prime minister pledges to recapture the country's second city of Mosul from Isis

Iraqi government forces are currently making gains in Ramadi, a regional capital

Iraqi soldiers advance their position in northern Ramadi (AP)

Iraq’s prime minister has pledged that the country’s armed forces will recapture its second city from the Isis militant group.

Haider al-Abadi said the Iraqi military would move on Mosul, which is currently held by the so-called Islamic State, after they had liberated Ramadi.

“The liberation of dear Mosul will be achieved with the cooperation and unity of all Iraqis after the victory in Ramadi,” Mr Abadi said in a statement released through the state media website.

Mosul has been under control of Isis since early June 2014. It is normally a large metropolis of over two million people but has been gutted by war in recent years.

The Iraqi government completely withdrew from the city earlier this year and stopped paying salaries to government employees over the summer.

The city is located to the north of the country on the edge of Iraqi Kurdistan, where Isis is maintaining a front line against Kurdish forces.

The Iraqi state’s military is currently engaged in an assault on Ramadi, a regional capital in central Iraq situated on the River Euphrates.

The latest reports of the assault relayed via the Reuters news agency suggest Iraqi government forces are consolidating their beachheads in that urban area.

Iraq’s foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is reported as saying the assault will be slower than initially anticipated because of the presence of civilians living in Isis-controlled territory.

That city, which is two hours drive from the capital Baghdad, was surrendered to Isis in May of this year as part of a string of defeats.

A US-led coalition of foreign air forces is providing air support against Isis targets in Iraq. Operations are also being conducted in Syria.

In a Friday sermon Iraq’s most prestigious Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on the country’s government to make the fight against Isis its number one priority.

“To recover all the land from Daesh, to rebuild the residential areas, to return the displaced person are top priorities for everybody, foremost for the government’s decision makers,” an aide read, in the sermon, which was broadcast on state television and reported by Reuters.

Additional reporting by Reuters