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| Two months to take Mosul from Isis, says Iraqi general | Two months to take Mosul from Isis, says Iraqi general |
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| Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul could take two weeks to reach the city and two months to liberate it from Islamic State (Isis) control, a general involved in the battle has said. | Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul could take two weeks to reach the city and two months to liberate it from Islamic State (Isis) control, a general involved in the battle has said. |
| Sirwan Barzani, a brigadier general of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces told CNN that bad weather could prolong the battle yet further. | Sirwan Barzani, a brigadier general of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces told CNN that bad weather could prolong the battle yet further. |
| The general made his assessment on the second full day of the battle, as peshmerga forces approached village by village across the Nineveh plain from the east, and regular Iraqi army units and some Shia militias advanced along the highway from Baghdad in the south. | The general made his assessment on the second full day of the battle, as peshmerga forces approached village by village across the Nineveh plain from the east, and regular Iraqi army units and some Shia militias advanced along the highway from Baghdad in the south. |
| President Obama warned of a gruelling campaign ahead. | President Obama warned of a gruelling campaign ahead. |
| “I’m confident that we can succeed, although it’s going to be a tough fight and a difficult fight,” the president said at a joint press conference in Washington with the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi. “It is Iraqis who are doing the fighting. And they are performing effectively and bravely, and taking on significant casualties. There will be ups and downs in this process, but my expectation is that ultimately it will be successful.” | “I’m confident that we can succeed, although it’s going to be a tough fight and a difficult fight,” the president said at a joint press conference in Washington with the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi. “It is Iraqis who are doing the fighting. And they are performing effectively and bravely, and taking on significant casualties. There will be ups and downs in this process, but my expectation is that ultimately it will be successful.” |
| In his interview, Gen Barzani said: “My expectation is two months for the fight inside Mosul, but weather is one of the factors that can delay the process.” | |
| He said that it would take the advancing troops two weeks just to reach Mosul, but noted an agreement with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad that peshmerga forces will not enter the city to take on Isis in the streets. That will be left to the regular army, federal police and Sunni tribal militias. | He said that it would take the advancing troops two weeks just to reach Mosul, but noted an agreement with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad that peshmerga forces will not enter the city to take on Isis in the streets. That will be left to the regular army, federal police and Sunni tribal militias. |
| The same prohibition on entering Mosul also applies to Shia militias, known as the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU’s) or Hashd al-Shaabi. Their deputy commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said on Tuesday, however, that his forces would fight to the west of Mosul for the town of Tal Afar. | |
| In interviews with the Guardian, residents of the multi-ethnic city said one of their principal fears if and when Isis was defeated was that Shia forces, responsible for past sectarian atrocities, would carry out reprisal killings against Sunnis. | In interviews with the Guardian, residents of the multi-ethnic city said one of their principal fears if and when Isis was defeated was that Shia forces, responsible for past sectarian atrocities, would carry out reprisal killings against Sunnis. |
| In a further illustration of the complicated regional politics likely to dog Mosul’s future, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, invoked a century-old Ottoman manifesto, the Misak-ı Millî (National Oath), to bolster his country’s claims on Mosul. | In a further illustration of the complicated regional politics likely to dog Mosul’s future, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, invoked a century-old Ottoman manifesto, the Misak-ı Millî (National Oath), to bolster his country’s claims on Mosul. |
| Erdoğan told an international law conference in Istanbul that those who doubt Turkey’s claims should read the Misak-ı Millî and understand what the place means to us” according to the Kurdish news agency Kurdistan24. | Erdoğan told an international law conference in Istanbul that those who doubt Turkey’s claims should read the Misak-ı Millî and understand what the place means to us” according to the Kurdish news agency Kurdistan24. |
| Turkish involvement in the battle for northern Iraq and in particular its military presence in Bashiqa, 10 miles north of Mosul, where it has trained Sunni militias, has infuriated the Iraqi government of Haider al-Abadi. | Turkish involvement in the battle for northern Iraq and in particular its military presence in Bashiqa, 10 miles north of Mosul, where it has trained Sunni militias, has infuriated the Iraqi government of Haider al-Abadi. |
| “They say Turkey should not enter Mosul. Come on! How do I not enter? I have a 350 kilometers [217 miles]-long border with Iraq. And I am under threat from that border,” Erdoğan said.“They tell us to withdraw from Bashiqa. Nobody should expect us to do so.” | “They say Turkey should not enter Mosul. Come on! How do I not enter? I have a 350 kilometers [217 miles]-long border with Iraq. And I am under threat from that border,” Erdoğan said.“They tell us to withdraw from Bashiqa. Nobody should expect us to do so.” |
| The US defence secretary, Ash Carter, is due to visit Turkey on Friday, in a bid to soothe tensions between US allies in what Washington sees as the most decisive battle against Isis. | The US defence secretary, Ash Carter, is due to visit Turkey on Friday, in a bid to soothe tensions between US allies in what Washington sees as the most decisive battle against Isis. |
| There are 18,000 Iraqi army troops involved in the offensive and about 10,000 Kurdish peshmerga, against an estimated 5,000 Isis fighters thought to be inside Mosul city and its outskirts. Of the 5,000 US military personnel in Iraq, only about 100 are near the frontlines, advising Kurdish and Iraqi army units and helping target air strikes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. A spokesman said that four US air strikes were carried out on targets inside Mosul on Monday. | There are 18,000 Iraqi army troops involved in the offensive and about 10,000 Kurdish peshmerga, against an estimated 5,000 Isis fighters thought to be inside Mosul city and its outskirts. Of the 5,000 US military personnel in Iraq, only about 100 are near the frontlines, advising Kurdish and Iraqi army units and helping target air strikes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. A spokesman said that four US air strikes were carried out on targets inside Mosul on Monday. |