ISIS won’t be defeated this year, says US official
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Islamic State (ISIS) may still be in their Iraqi and Syrian strongholds when US President Barack Obama leaves office, hinted Susan Rice, national security advisor to Obama. Iraq’s parliament speaker, however, says the Iraqi Army is ready to liberate Mosul.
“I can’t say with confidence that this [the liberation of Mosul and Raqqa from ISIS] will be done,” Rice said at a forum in Washington on Thursday. “I’m not saying it won’t happen, I’m just not sitting here to predict that it will happen in that time.”
The US aims to remove ISIS from its two major strongholds, Iraq’s second-city Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria.
In Syria the US-led coalition is supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with air power and a small number of special forces against ISIS. Washington eventually hopes the SDF can force ISIS from Raqqa.
In Iraq the US has been advising and training Iraqi and Kurdish forces and also giving them air support against ISIS on multiple fronts. After the Iraqi Army forces ISIS from Fallujah, the US hopes they will then be able to focus on recapturing Mosul.
“I can say that we will be further along towards that goal [by the end of 2016]. We’ve steadily been making progress on the ground, we’re tightening the noose around both those places,” Rice said.
Her comments on Thursday came at the same time Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Salim al-Jubouri told the media outlet Anadolu Agency that Iraqi forces hope to liberate Mosul very soon.
By the end of 2016 Iraq will be “entirely free of Daesh [ISIS] elements,” Jubouri claimed.
“Recent losses sustained by Daesh and other terrorist groups in Iraq are an indication of this,” he added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was similarly optimistic on Monday in a statement he issued on the occasion of the first day of Ramadan.
“We give our congratulations to our people in the holy month and we assure them that victory is at hand,” reads the statement. “The current year will see the elimination of the terrorist gangs and the liberation of Fallujah will be very soon.”
The Iraqi army and Shiite militias are making slow progress in the operation to liberate Fallujah, which is now in its third week.
There is no timeline to retake Mosul and US military officials believe that an offensive on the city itself is not likely to happen anytime soon as a break is needed in order to provide more training of the Iraqi army first.
“A lull won’t be sexy, but it’s the hard and important work that needs to be done to generate combat power,” said Col. Steven Warren, former top American military spokesman in Iraq, to the New York Times.
“I can’t say with confidence that this [the liberation of Mosul and Raqqa from ISIS] will be done,” Rice said at a forum in Washington on Thursday. “I’m not saying it won’t happen, I’m just not sitting here to predict that it will happen in that time.”
The US aims to remove ISIS from its two major strongholds, Iraq’s second-city Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria.
In Syria the US-led coalition is supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with air power and a small number of special forces against ISIS. Washington eventually hopes the SDF can force ISIS from Raqqa.
In Iraq the US has been advising and training Iraqi and Kurdish forces and also giving them air support against ISIS on multiple fronts. After the Iraqi Army forces ISIS from Fallujah, the US hopes they will then be able to focus on recapturing Mosul.
“I can say that we will be further along towards that goal [by the end of 2016]. We’ve steadily been making progress on the ground, we’re tightening the noose around both those places,” Rice said.
Her comments on Thursday came at the same time Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Salim al-Jubouri told the media outlet Anadolu Agency that Iraqi forces hope to liberate Mosul very soon.
By the end of 2016 Iraq will be “entirely free of Daesh [ISIS] elements,” Jubouri claimed.
“Recent losses sustained by Daesh and other terrorist groups in Iraq are an indication of this,” he added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was similarly optimistic on Monday in a statement he issued on the occasion of the first day of Ramadan.
“We give our congratulations to our people in the holy month and we assure them that victory is at hand,” reads the statement. “The current year will see the elimination of the terrorist gangs and the liberation of Fallujah will be very soon.”
The Iraqi army and Shiite militias are making slow progress in the operation to liberate Fallujah, which is now in its third week.
There is no timeline to retake Mosul and US military officials believe that an offensive on the city itself is not likely to happen anytime soon as a break is needed in order to provide more training of the Iraqi army first.
“A lull won’t be sexy, but it’s the hard and important work that needs to be done to generate combat power,” said Col. Steven Warren, former top American military spokesman in Iraq, to the New York Times.