U.S.-led forces have carried out dozens of air strikes in Iraq to back up Kurdish forces advancing against Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul, the American military said Saturday.

Over the past 72 hours, U.S. and coalition aircraft conducted 46 bombing raids in support of Kurdish peshmerga troops near Mosul and 80 hours of reconnaissance flights, the military said in a statement.

Iraq's premier expressed confidence Friday that the country's struggling army is capable of retaking the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

The chief problem, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a gathering of political and economic leaders in Davos, is that Iraqi forces in the area are currently split and need to join up.

Bkirki has been reportedly tasked by the Vatican to carry out direct negotiations for the return of Christians who were forced out of their homes in Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State group.

Al-Liwaa daily said on Monday that a “major diplomatic breakthrough has been made by the leadership of the IS lately” after the approval of the Vatican to enter into direct negotiations with it for the purpose of taking certain measures for the return of the Christians to their cities, mainly Iraq's second-largest city Mosul.

India said Friday it was still searching for 39 construction workers abducted in Iraq in June, denying a report claiming they had been executed by the Islamic State group.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj urged the workers' families not to lose hope, despite not knowing the whereabouts of the men who were rounded up by jihadists in Mosul city.

Jamal Hayak is finally fixing up his restaurant, damaged a month ago in clashes between the army and militants in this northern Lebanese city. But he has little doubt violence will erupt again, and he says he fears next time it will be Islamic State group fighters battling in Tripoli's streets.

"In the beginning we used to say. 'This is the last time.' Now we've had Round 21 and 22 (of fighting), so we say God knows," said Hayak, 56, grimy with dust as he fixed his shop, shelled during the four days of fighting in late October that killed over 20 people.

Coalition forces launched airstrikes targeting Islamic State leaders near their northern Iraqi hub of Mosul, the U.S. military said Saturday, without confirming whether the group's chief was killed.

The strikes, which destroyed a vehicle convoy of 10 IS armed trucks late Friday, targeted a "gathering of ISIL leaders" near Mosul, U.S. Central Command said.

The Islamic State group has executed at least four women, including two doctors and a politician, in their northern Iraq strongholds this month, relatives and rights activists said on Saturday.

In the IS hub of Mosul, the jihadists executed three women on Wednesday including two doctors, Hanaa Edwar, a human rights activist who heads the al-Amal organization, said.

The battle to retake Mosul, Iraq's largest jihadist hub, could take up to a year to plan, U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy for the coalition against the Islamic State group said Friday.

"I would see that Mosul will probably go as an operation within a year... The operation will kick off within a year," John Allen told reporters in Baghdad.

Jihadists ruling Iraq's northern city of Mosul are forcing residents who were in business partnerships with Christians and Shiites to hand over non-Sunni assets, witnesses said Tuesday.

Groups of armed men from the Islamic State (IS) group, which has controlled Iraq's second city for three months, have been systematically visiting shops and businesses in recent days.

The U.S. military launched new strikes on Islamic State forces in Iraq, using fighter and attack aircraft to carry out strikes near the Mosul dam and Amerli, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

"The strike near Amerli damaged an ISIL tank and the strike near Mosul Dam destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle. All aircraft exited the strike area safely," a U.S. Defense Department statement said, referring to the IS forces also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).