Mosul: Fight for Islamic State stronghold could take two more months, US-led coalition chief says

Posted December 08, 2016 07:18:32

Photo: Iraqi special forces soldiers on the outskirts of Mosul (AP: Marko Drobnjakovic)

The battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul could take two more months, and may not reduce the threat the Islamic State (IS) group poses to Iraq and the West, the commander of the US-led coalition has said.

The US-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition, which includes military forces from a range of Western and Arab countries, has been bombing IS positions in both Syria and Iraq since 2014.

It is now providing air support and some ground assistance to the Iraqi assault on Mosul in Iraq, and working with Kurdish and Arab fighters who have made advances against IS in Syria.

US Lieutenant-General Stephen Townsend said Iraqi forces had made significant progress since IS militants rampaged through the north of the country in 2014, before declaring a caliphate that also straddled parts of Syria.

"I think they are going to be working on Mosul for a number of weeks more, maybe a couple of months more probably," Lieutenant-General Townsend said.

The Mosul assault, involving a 100,000-strong ground force of Iraqi Government troops, members of the autonomous Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi'ite militiamen, is the biggest battle in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003.

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The pro-Government forces have captured around a quarter of the city so far, but fighting has been slowed by the presence of an estimated 1 million civilians.

But Lieutenant-General Townsend said victory in Mosul would not eradicate Islamic State.

"I think we are not done when Mosul is over. We are still not done in Iraq," he said.

"Our partners have to go from Mosul out to the Syrian border in the West and re-establish control of their border. There is still a tough fight ahead even after Mosul."

While sooner or later IS fighters would "realise they are going to lose their physical caliphate", Lieutenant-General Townsend predicted they would adapt their tactics and remain a threat, even after all their territory was reclaimed.

"In my view the best way we can reduce the threat of external attacks on France or the United States or the West is to kick them out of Mosul, and to kick them out of Raqqa and to chase them into the desert."

A 'sustainable presence and a partnership' needed in Iraq

Iraq's recent history, in which Islamic State formed from the remnants of Al Qaeda fighters subdued during eight years of US occupation, shows that defeating one militant group can lead to the emergence of a graver danger.

"I don't have a crystal ball. I can't predict the future. I do know that they have shown the ability to come back. Al Qaeda in Iraq gave birth to [IS]," Lieutenant-General Townsend said.

"What we have to do is we have got to play this differently so that ISIS doesn't give birth to the next extremist group that takes over Iraq.

"We need to make sure we have a sustainable presence and a partnership in Iraq, the coalition into the future."

Lieutenant-General Townsend said the campaign against IS in its Syrian headquarters of Raqqa would be more complex than the Mosul operation and would take more time.

The coalition is relying on a smaller local fighting force of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters in Raqqa, rather than the big Iraqi army.