Iraqi security forces will be ready by next month for an assault on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, the top general in the USA military said Wednesday.
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Shirqat, which lies on the Tigris River 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, has been surrounded by Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim militias allied to the government.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi: Iraqi forces are also moving to retake two areas in the western province of Anbar.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said in an televised message from NY, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly that forces are also moving to retake two areas in the western province of Anbar.
Power said the summit wouldn’t be a “panacea” for the crisis, but would show what the US can achieve when it leads on an issue of global concern. “Sherqat is important, we can’t move on Mosul and have terrorists control Sherqat”.
Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command, said intelligence contacts in Mosul were providing accurate coordinates of Isis locations and for conducting assassinations against militants, though Reuters could not confirm those claims.
Iraqi forces on Tuesday recaptured six villages in the country’s north and west from Daesh terrorist group, according to local security officials.
Colonel John Dorrian, the spokesman for the US-led operation against IS, said coalition forces had carried out 19 air strikes over the past two weeks to set the stage for the Sherqat operation.
It also includes less powerful Sunni tribal forces supporting the government against IS.
Rasool stressed that only tribal forces – sometimes referred to as Hashed al-Ashaeri (Tribal Mobilisation) – were fighting in Sherqat, not Shiite militias.
After meeting Abadi in NY on Monday, US President Barack Obama said he hoped for progress by the end of the year.
Iraqi forces have been moving northwards from Baghdad for nearly two years, gradually retaking areas over which IS declared its “caliphate” in June 2014.
The new commander of the US -led coalition fighting Islamic State, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, said earlier this month that the USA had sent an additional 400 troops to assist in the battle there.
France announced in July that it was providing the weaponry to the Iraqi forces and sent French military advisers to Iraq for training.
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Last month, the head of the United States military’s Central Command voiced confidence that Iraq was on track to meet its objective, should Abadi choose to go forward as planned.
