U.S. Coalition Commander: 'Regaining Mosul from ISIS will take weeks, possibly longer' (Aranews).
Defeating ISIS in Mosul and regaining the city will take weeks or longer, commander of the US-led coalition Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said on Monday.
“Earlier today, Iraqi Security Forces launched their counter-attack to liberate Mosul from ISIL [ISIS]. This operation to regain control of Iraq’s second-largest city will likely continue for weeks, possibly longer,” Townsend said.
“Iraq is supported by a wide range of coalition capabilities, including air support, artillery, intelligence, advisors and forward air controllers. But to be clear, the thousands of ground combat forces who will liberate Mosul are all Iraqis,” he added.
“Over the course of these past two years, a coalition of more than 60 nations has united to defeat ISIL. We have conducted tens of thousands of precision strikes to support Iraqi operations, trained and equipped more than 54,000 Iraqi forces, and supported our Iraqi partners as they fought to liberate their country.
Lt. Gen. Townsend said they cannot predict how long this operation could take before Mosul is liberated, but stressed that local forces and the coalition were well prepared for this battle.
“This may prove to be a long and tough battle, but the Iraqis have prepared for it and we will stand by them,” he concluded. Hmmm.........Weeks or months. (see tweet below). Read the full story here.
Yes.Battle of Mosul is still ongoing btwn 20-40km away from the city. The battle is going 2be long. Many villages still on the way. @MFS001— Elijah J. Magnier (@EjmAlrai) October 18, 2016
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