AhlulBayt News Agency - ABNA - Shia News
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Over 30,000 Iraqi and Peshmerga forces preparing for Mosul Operation
30,000 Iraqi security and Peshmerga forces, with coalition support, are preparing for the assault to reclaim the key city of Mosul from the so-called Islamic State (IS), Christopher Garver, an Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) spokesperson said today on March 5.
AhlulBayt News Agency - 30,000 Iraqi security and Peshmerga forces, with coalition support, are preparing for the assault to reclaim the key city of Mosul from the so-called Islamic State (IS), Christopher Garver, an Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) spokesperson said today on March 5.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Baghdad, Army Col. Christopher Garver said that Mosul assault will happen in the upcoming months on the timeline of the Iraqis, as they are the ones planning the operation.
"We're supporting them throughout the operation, but we look for ways to accelerate the timeline," he said, explaining that the support includes speeding up the training for the Iraqi soldiers, and providing options to help them on the ground.
The Iraqi Army expects the city of Mosul to be wholly recaptured by the end of 2016, the spokesperson said.
The IS members and leaders are now taking out their families from Mosul and the extremist group has reportedly made reductions in payment of its members due to the damage caused by airstrikes to the its financial sources in Mosul, the spokesperson added.
The Iraqi government has recently deployed more than 5,000 troops, equipped with tanks and heavy arms, to the Makhmour frontline in southwestern Erbil, claiming and the Mosul operation is to start soon.
However, US and Iraqi officials previously stressed out that liberating Mosul, as the stronghold of IS in Iraq, is going to be a tough mission.
