How U.S. and Western Troops Will Help In the Battle for Mosul (excerpt)
(Source: New York Times; published Oct 17, 2016)
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff
Since the official start of the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014, U.S. military officials have stressed that American troops would not be in a combat role, and instead relegated to “advising and assisting” their Iraqi counterparts from behind the front lines. Coupled with air and artillery support, the strategy has paid off, albeit more slowly than some military campaigns in the past.
In Mosul, that strategy will be put to the test as U.S. and Western forces are forced to coordinate their support, comprising chiefly of airstrikes, with 80,000 troops advancing from different directions, all on their own timetables, some with differing uniforms and likely no universal way to communicate.
Unlike other battles against the Islamic State, the sheer number of fighters pouring into Mosul is staggering compared to prior operations. The fight for Ramadi earlier this year featured roughly 10,000 Iraqi troops, while the battle for Fallujah, just months later, had around 15,000.
According to Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the U.S.-led campaign in Iraq and Syria, the advancing forces will be buoyed by Western air support, artillery, intelligence, advisers and troops that will help call in airstrikes, known as forward air controllers. But what exactly does that look like? (end of excerpt)
Click here for the full story, on the Washington Post website.
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Iraqi Forces Begin Battle for Mosul
(Source: U.S. Department of Defence; issued October 17, 2016)
"The United States and the rest of the international coalition stand ready to support Iraqi security forces, peshmerga fighters and the people of Iraq in the difficult fight ahead," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a separate statement. "We are confident our Iraqi partners will prevail against our common enemy and free Mosul and the rest of Iraq from ISIL's hatred and brutality."
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, OIR commander, said the operation to regain control of Mosul will likely continue for weeks and possibly longer. But it comes after more than two years of ISIL oppression in Mosul, "during which they committed horrible atrocities [and] brutalized the people" after declaring the city to be one of their twin capitals, the general said in the statement.
The coalition can't predict how long it will take for the Iraqi forces to retake the city, Townsend said, "but we know they will succeed -- just as they did in Beiji, in Ramadi, in Fallujah and, more recently in Qayyarah and Sharqat."
Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, is still home to more than a million people -- despite hundreds of thousands reportedly having fled the city since 2014 -- according to United Nations estimates.
Wide-Ranging, Precise Support
The OIR coalition will provide "air support, artillery, intelligence, advisors and forward air controllers," Townsend said in the statement, adding that the supporting forces "will continue to use precision to accurately attack the enemy and to minimize any impact on innocent civilians."
During the past two years of ISIL control in Mosul, OIR efforts have expanded to include a coalition of more than 60 countries, which have combined to conduct tens of thousands of precision strikes to support Iraqi operations, and trained and equipped more than 54,000 Iraqi forces, the general said.
"But to be clear, the thousands of ground combat forces who will liberate Mosul are all Iraqis," Townsend said in the statement.
Carter, in his statement, called it a "decisive moment" in the campaign. Townsend said it's not just a fight for the future of Iraq, but also "to ensure the security of all of our nations."
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