The US is hosting a two-day high-level meeting of defence and foreign ministers from across the world, who are core partners in its military operations, to discuss the ongoing campaign against Islamic State (Isis) militants.
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“Unfortunately, I think we are going to see more of these”, he said.
They have recaptured the Qayyara air base south of Mosul, which USA military officials say will serve as a launch pad for offensive operations against the city.
In Iraq, ISIS lost control of the key stronghold of Ramadi city at the end of past year.
On that note, Lise Grande, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, warned that without addressing the needs of Iraqis displaced by the conflict, military victories will prove transient.
In Syria, the militants have lost ground this year to both Russian and Iranian-backed forces supporting president Bashar al-Assad and to the USA -backed Syria democratic forces alliance.
A broader meeting on a US-led campaign to fight Islamic State militants will be held on Thursday. They will need shelter, food and water, and sanitation for three to 12 months, depending on the extent of the city’s destruction.
The extremist group captured Mosul in the summer of 2014. “What’s important isn’t a military defeat; what’s important is the Iraqi government’s ability to embrace post-ISIL management issues, one of which is the Sunni grievances in and around Mosul”.
“There is a logic in moving as quickly as possible, but there is a danger that if the humanitarian response is not as prepared. then we could have a humanitarian catastrophe and possible problems with political management of Mosul after its liberation”, said a senior diplomat based in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Obama administration just last week announced a second troop increase in the last three months, saying 560 forces will head over for a total of more than 4,500 USA troops now authorized for Iraq.
Intense fighting is under way between ISIS militants and USA backed fighters in villages in northern Syria controlled by the militants.
The United Nations says it needs an immediate $280 million to begin pre-positioning supplies – tens of thousands of tents and hundreds of mobile health clinics, for example – for the expected flood of refugees.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) gestures to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a Pledging Conference in Support of Iraq, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, and The Netherlands at the State Department in Washington, U.S., July 20, 2016.
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Lise Grande, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, told Reuters last month that at least 430,000 more people could be displaced this year in Anbar, Iraq’s desert province stretching west from Falluja to the Syrian border. An estimated $1.8 billion would be needed to deal with the aftermath, it added.
