Posted on 09/24/2014 9:52:07 PM PDT by GonzoII
Arbil (AFP) -- Western support has helped Iraq's Kurdish troops regain ground and momentum against the Islamic State group, but retaking the northern jihadist hub of Mosul remains too big an ask for now.
When federal forces buckled as jihadists advanced, the Kurds seized long-coveted territory around Mosul. But in August, they suffered setbacks of their own when IS surged again.
Air support from the United States and France, arms deliveries and improved ties with Baghdad have allowed the Kurdish peshmerga fighters to regroup and take the initiative.
Speaking at an international conference in Paris last week, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari even predicted it would "not be too difficult" to retake Mosul.
However Roz Nuri Shaways, Iraq's newly-appointed finance minister and a peshmerga commander whose forces recaptured seven Christian villages from IS last week, admitted Mosul was too ambitious an objective in the short term.
"We need real cooperation from the international community" to reclaim Mosul, a city which had a population of close to two million before its capture by the jihadists, he said.
It was in Mosul, in July, that IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance since becoming the region's top jihadist, and the city is seen as the place where the war against IS in Iraq will be lost or won.
"I have felt so relieved since the news that air strikes in Syria and Iraq had started," Saad Mahmud, a 34-year-old Mosul taxi driver, told AFP.
"We have had a taste of the horror and hope that the raids will go all the way, to teach a lesson to anyone who is prepared to support those criminals," he said.
US and French jets have been carrying out air strikes nearly all around Mosul...
(Excerpt) Read more at aina.org ...
I agree. Take your time because you know that ISIS is going to leave behind well hidden welcoming parties if you move too fast.
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