Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, speaking from NY where he met U.S. President Barack Obama, said the same operation also included efforts to flush out ISIS militants from desert areas near Ramadi and Heet in the western province of Anbar.
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Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the operation in a televised statement aired on Tuesday from NY where he’s attending the U.N. General Assembly meetings.
USA and Iraqi officials have said the push on Mosul could begin in October, though there are concerns that not enough planning has been done for how to manage Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, if and when Islamic State is kicked out. US officials had earlier this year said it wouldn’t begin before the end of 2016.
After meeting with Abadi in NY on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama said he hoped for progress by the end of the year on Mosul.
“These operations are the preparation for getting rid of Daesh from every inch of Iraqi land and, God willing, the end of these operations will be the liberation of Mosul”, he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State, which has been forced off significant portions of the territory it seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, could begin as soon as next month.
But Obama said Monday that the mission can’t end there. Washington considers the Iraqi government’s handling of the displacement to be a major test case for reconciliation in Iraq, given the blend of sectarian groups with an interest in the northern city’s future.
“We are making good progress”, he said. And in a phone call with President Kenyan Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama talked about refugee issues, terrorism and the upcoming elections. “They must be crushed on the ground, and our heroic fighters are doing that”.
Today, Obama will give his farewell speech to the U.N. General Assembly, meet with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and co-host the summit on the refugee and migrant crisis stemming largely from the Syria conflict.
The city, Iraq’s second-largest, fell to Islamic State in 2014 after Iraq’s army and police dropped their weapons and fled, despite billions of dollars in aid since a USA -led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The new commander of the USA -led coalition fighting Islamic State, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, said earlier this month that the US had sent an additional 400 troops to assist in the battle there.
“We feel confident that we will be in a position to move forward fairly rapidly”, Obama said.
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He said the operation must drive out the ISIS group but also reassure the populace so that the “extremist ideology born out of desperation will not return”.
