Iraqi security forces are making progress every day against the Islamic State in west Mosul, with the defeat of the enemy inevitable, the commander of coalition ground forces told reporters today.
“The fight to liberate Mosul from ISIS brutality has been hard-fought and long” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Martin, commander of Operation Inherent Resolve’s Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command, said in a videoconference from Baghdad.
He added:
“The Iraqi forces have taken the fight to the enemy and sacrificed their blood for the people of Iraq. I’m honoured to serve by their side in this endeavour. We will continue to support them until all the Iraqis are liberated and the country is free to choose its own future.
The military defeat of ISIS in Iraq is inevitable, and we will help the Iraqis achieve that.”
According to a press release:
“The enemy is encircled and running out of options, he said. Meanwhile, he told reporters, the coalition continues to support the Iraqi forces by providing joint coalition fires. Progress has been steady, but slow at times.”
I worry for the fall out once this conflict ends. They will not be fully defeated and once thier land is gone, I worry their next step would be terrorist attacks. Main land Europe and the UK are relatively easy targets.
I do hope your being sarcastic.
Why would he be being sarcastic? He’s absolutely right. Many of the commentators after the two most recent UK terror attacks expressed exactly the same concerns. The problem is that IS has aspired to creating two caliphates, a physical one in the Middle East and a virtual one on the internet (which will to some extent be increasingly underpinned by a diaspora of fighters deserting the physical wanna-be caliphate as it is dismantled by force). The problem is that we can drop bombs on the physical wanna-be caliphate but how do we tackle the virtual one? I am pretty sure… Read more »