The northern Iraqi city, once the county’s second-largest with more than two million people, has been occupied by the Islamic State for more than two years.
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Earlier, on Monday, Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the United States military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iraq will have the full complement of the forces it needs to retake Mosul in October.
The disposition of forces and the treatment of Shirqat’s residents, who have been living under Islamic State for more than two years, will be closely watched by the Sunni residents of Mosul, who have historic mistrust of the forces of successive Shi’ite-led governments in Baghdad. In neighboring Syria, the chaotic civil war continues to hamper the fight against IS, but in Iraq, the extremists have lost half the territory they once held, according to the U.S.
Five security personnel and one civilian have been killed in the battle for Shirqat, where they face hazards including roadside bombs, mortars and snipers, said the mayor and a source in the Salahuddin Operations Command which oversees military operations in the area.
“What I want to confirm is that the presence of the Turkish forces on the Iraqi territories is hampering our efforts to eliminate ISIL”, Abadi told reporters at a press conference in Baghdad.
“We are making good progress”, he said.
The push to take Shirqat is backed by paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militiamen.
It also includes less powerful Sunni tribal forces supporting the government against IS.
Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US -led operation against IS, said coalition forces had carried out 19 air strikes over the past two weeks to enable Iraqi forces to move on Shirqat.
They have left some pockets of IS jihadists on the way however – such as in Hawijah or in the Hamreen mountains – and priority was given to Qayyarah, a town further north which will be used as a launchpad for an offensive on Mosul.
President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will strategize about the upcoming offensive to take back the northern city of Mosul when they meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
“We are going to kick Daesh out of Mosul”, Abadi said, using another name for the Islamic State group, “and deal a huge blow to what Daesh believes in”.
“But our job is to actually help the Iraqis generate the forces and the support necessary for operations in Mosul and we’ll be ready for that in October”.
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“In my view, it’ll be a very significant blow to the Islamic State as they lose Mosul and Raqqa and they can no longer talk about holding a physical caliphate in Syria and Iraq”, Dunford said.
