Iraq: Coalition Forces Claim Mosul Offensive Drawing To Close
The Mosul offensive is drawing to an end and that the Daesh de facto capital in Iraq would soon be made Daesh-free, military sources said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
A small distance of five to six kilometers keeps Iraqi forces away from center city.
Elite counterterrorism forces’ Maj.Gen. Maan al-Saadi said that forces have advanced all the way to Mosul city’s outliers and currently await reinforcement to march into the Daesh definitive stronghold.
What remains are fears on the aftermath of freeing Mosul from Daesh, especially with areas suffering greatly from sectarian rifts, namely Tal Afar, which is a ticking bomb, said Nineveh’s MP Ahmed al-Jarba told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Counterterrorism forces restored control over Rutbah, a small borderline town located near Jordan in Iraq’s western Anbar province, after Daesh took over most of its neighborhoods.
Anbar council member Jasem Al Asaal said that Iraq forces were able to successfully drive Daesh fighters out of the last two grips the terror group had in Rutbah.
More so, the U.S.-led international coalition held a meeting in Paris on Tuesday, to review the offensive on the militant bastion.
With the Mosul battle in its second week, French President Francois Hollande called for the coalition to prepare for the aftermath and the next stages of the campaign against the militants.
As the ministers met, Hollande warned that “the recapture is not an end in itself. We must already anticipate the consequences of the fall of Mosul.”
“What is at stake is the political future of the city, the region and Iraq,” Hollande said, calling for “all ethnic and religious groups” to have a say in the future running of Mosul.
By Hamza Mustafa, original source
