US Adds Muscle To Push for Mosul

                                       by David Parmer

The noose is slowly tightening around the city of Mosul as Iraqi security forces, Peshmerga and Shia militias move closer to the heart of the city. The offensive is meeting stiff resistance, yet 20 villages have been liberated and civilians freed from the clutches of Daesh. Fighting will probably intensify as the battle moves into the city.

A re-constituted Iraqi military is in the attack. Prior to the offensive some 35,000 troops received training from US forces. The US has also supplied M1 Abrams tanks, M4 rifles and ample ammunition.

And while US troops are not at the front of the assault, US support for this operation is massive. According to a report on the Military.com website on October 19, US support includes:

• US A64 Apache armed helicopters flying night missions in support of Iraqi forces
• Continuing US and coalition airstrikes on Daesh targets
• HIMARS mobile rocket artillery providing fire support
• 155mm Paladin self-propelled artillery providing fire support
• More than 100 US advisors and Terminal Attack Controllers

Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi has said he expects Mosul to fall by the end of the year. US leaders are being a bit more cautious in their prediction. “Several months” at least seems to be the time frame that they are looking at. However long it takes, the US will be working to support Iraqi forces and to hasten the end of the so-called “Islamic State.”

Photo: US CENTCOM, Christopher Brecht