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U.S., Iraq, Prepare Offensive to Retake Mosul from Islamic State
Half of Islamic State Leadership Removed in Strikes
TAMPA, Fla.—The U.S. and Iraq have begun preparations for an assault by summer to retake Mosul, selecting and training military units and cutting supply lines to Islamic State militants who control Iraq’s second-largest city, the top American commander in the Middle East said.
Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the military’s Central Command, told The Wall Street Journal that the international campaign against Islamic State has inflicted significant damage. Opposing forces have reclaimed about 300 square miles of territory in Iraq and killed some 6,000 members of the Sunni radical group, eliminating about half its leadership.
U.S. defense officials have bristled under criticism from Iraqi officials and others that the campaign against Islamic State is stalled or moving too slowly. U.S. Central Command is eager to show that airstrikes are having an effect on the ground and that the American and Iraqi militaries have a plan to continue to drive fighters out of their key strongholds in Iraq.
U.S. officials said they don’t have a good estimate of the current size of Islamic State forces, although they were once estimated at up to 14,000. They concede that Islamic State fighters still control large parts of northern and western Iraq, but say much of the Kurdish-controlled areas have been reclaimed. Islamic State captured Mosul, a city of 600,000, in June at the start of its blitz across parts of Iraq.
On Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. airstrikes focused on cutting supply lines between militants who control Mosul and Islamic State’s stronghold in Syria. The planes conducted 18 strikes near Mosul and Sinjar, hitting Islamic State fighters, staging positions and armored vehicles, according to the U.S. military.
A coalition of Iraq’s most experienced military forces, including Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga and U.S.-trained Sunni fighters, would be ready by the spring or early summer to begin the offensive to retake Mosul, said Gen. Austin, the chief architect of the international military campaign against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Gen. Austin, speaking at his headquarters in Tampa, addressed questions about the pace of the campaign by saying the U.S. must wait for Iraq’s forces to be ready before moving.
“If we did things alone or with some of the other allies on the ground, it could move faster,” he said. “But the Iraqis have to do this themselves.”
Gen. Austin said he had not decided whether to recommend that U.S. ground troops accompany local units pushing into Mosul, but emphasized the military would “do what it takes.”
He said there are signs that Islamic State is having trouble finding new fighters—noting their efforts to recruit child soldiers and to forcibly conscript fighters in Mosul. The group “is beginning to experience a manpower issue,” Gen. Austin said.Defense officials said the estimates of the number of militants killed comes from the battle-damage assessments done by the U.S. after airstrikes. A defense official said the U.S. has a high degree of confidence in their count and that, if anything, it is a conservative estimate. Still highlighting enemy casualties is controversial, and even Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said body counts haven’t been an accurate measure of progress in the past.
In talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London earlier Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his forces needed more ammunition, equipment and training, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cameron said. In public comments, Mr. Abadi said the sharp drop in oil prices had devastated Iraq’s economy.
Mr. Abadi was in London for an international conference to discuss strategy in the fight against Islamic State. Secretary of State John Kerry told the conference the support for Iraqi efforts against Islamic State wouldn’t fail for want of weapons or ammunition. Mr. Kerry said a “very significant” number of M16 rifles were on the way.
In Washington, Mr. Hagel criticized earlier comments from Mr. Abadi criticizing the amount and pace of the American weapons supplies, saying the prime minister should be mindful of the efforts the U.S. and the coalition are making on behalf of Iraq.
U.S. officials say they believe the population in Mosul will support the Iraqi forces. But they expect a tough fight, with the possibility of booby-trapped houses and roadside bombs.
The U.S. has begun training new Iraqi security forces at four sites, according to military officials. There are about 1,000 Iraqis at the al-Asad base in Anbar province, 1,800 at the Besmaya base to the south of Baghdad, 1,300 at Taji base to the north of the capital, and 300 Kurds in Erbil—the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
Those forces won’t be directly involved in the attack on Mosul. Instead U.S. commanders are urging Iraqi leaders to use those newly trained units to take over defensive positions around Baghdad and elsewhere and send more battle-experienced units to Mosul.
Under that plan, Gen. Austin said two Iraqi divisions are expected to lead the force that retakes Mosul this spring, forces that will go to U.S.-run training centers in the coming weeks to prepare for the offensive. Those forces will receive four to six weeks training by the U.S. to prepare for the fight in Mosul, according to military officials.
Military officials say they face a challenge in convincing Iraqi leaders to release their best and most experienced units from the defense of Baghdad and commit them to the offensive. Senior U.S. officials have told Iraqi counterparts that the only way to ultimately ensure the safety of the capital is to push Islamic State forces out of Mosul and other key areas they continue to control.
“Most of the best Iraqi units are in Baghdad, and that is the thing we have to shake them free of,” said a senior military officer. “They are reluctant to let their best units leave.”
Last year, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, raised the possibility in testimony before Congress that U.S. troops might need to accompany Iraqi forces during the Mosul fight to help call in airstrikes. Gen. Austin said he had made no decision but said he may request that the White House send in U.S. advisers alongside the Iraqi divisions.
“I am going to do what it takes to be successful, and it may very well turn out…that we may need to ask to have our advisers accompany the troops that are moving on Mosul,” he said.
But Central Command will not need to make a decision on whether to request U.S. advisers accompany Iraqi troops until close to the operations, Gen. Austin said.
He predicted Islamic State’s leadership wouldn’t be able to reestablish their supply lines, opening a possibility that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, could be forced to abandon Mosul.
“He could make a decision to fight and retake those lines of communications, which I expect him to do. I expect him to ultimately lose that fight,” Gen. Austin said. “He could make a decision to leave Mosul altogether and go back into Syria.”
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Half of Islamic State Leadership Removed in Strikes
TAMPA, Fla.—The U.S. and Iraq have begun preparations for an assault by summer to retake Mosul, selecting and training military units and cutting supply lines to Islamic State militants who control Iraq’s second-largest city, the top American commander in the Middle East said.
Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the military’s Central Command, told The Wall Street Journal that the international campaign against Islamic State has inflicted significant damage. Opposing forces have reclaimed about 300 square miles of territory in Iraq and killed some 6,000 members of the Sunni radical group, eliminating about half its leadership.
U.S. defense officials have bristled under criticism from Iraqi officials and others that the campaign against Islamic State is stalled or moving too slowly. U.S. Central Command is eager to show that airstrikes are having an effect on the ground and that the American and Iraqi militaries have a plan to continue to drive fighters out of their key strongholds in Iraq.
U.S. officials said they don’t have a good estimate of the current size of Islamic State forces, although they were once estimated at up to 14,000. They concede that Islamic State fighters still control large parts of northern and western Iraq, but say much of the Kurdish-controlled areas have been reclaimed. Islamic State captured Mosul, a city of 600,000, in June at the start of its blitz across parts of Iraq.
On Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. airstrikes focused on cutting supply lines between militants who control Mosul and Islamic State’s stronghold in Syria. The planes conducted 18 strikes near Mosul and Sinjar, hitting Islamic State fighters, staging positions and armored vehicles, according to the U.S. military.
A coalition of Iraq’s most experienced military forces, including Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga and U.S.-trained Sunni fighters, would be ready by the spring or early summer to begin the offensive to retake Mosul, said Gen. Austin, the chief architect of the international military campaign against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Gen. Austin, speaking at his headquarters in Tampa, addressed questions about the pace of the campaign by saying the U.S. must wait for Iraq’s forces to be ready before moving.
“If we did things alone or with some of the other allies on the ground, it could move faster,” he said. “But the Iraqis have to do this themselves.”
Gen. Austin said he had not decided whether to recommend that U.S. ground troops accompany local units pushing into Mosul, but emphasized the military would “do what it takes.”
He said there are signs that Islamic State is having trouble finding new fighters—noting their efforts to recruit child soldiers and to forcibly conscript fighters in Mosul. The group “is beginning to experience a manpower issue,” Gen. Austin said.Defense officials said the estimates of the number of militants killed comes from the battle-damage assessments done by the U.S. after airstrikes. A defense official said the U.S. has a high degree of confidence in their count and that, if anything, it is a conservative estimate. Still highlighting enemy casualties is controversial, and even Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said body counts haven’t been an accurate measure of progress in the past.
In talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London earlier Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his forces needed more ammunition, equipment and training, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cameron said. In public comments, Mr. Abadi said the sharp drop in oil prices had devastated Iraq’s economy.
Mr. Abadi was in London for an international conference to discuss strategy in the fight against Islamic State. Secretary of State John Kerry told the conference the support for Iraqi efforts against Islamic State wouldn’t fail for want of weapons or ammunition. Mr. Kerry said a “very significant” number of M16 rifles were on the way.
In Washington, Mr. Hagel criticized earlier comments from Mr. Abadi criticizing the amount and pace of the American weapons supplies, saying the prime minister should be mindful of the efforts the U.S. and the coalition are making on behalf of Iraq.
U.S. officials say they believe the population in Mosul will support the Iraqi forces. But they expect a tough fight, with the possibility of booby-trapped houses and roadside bombs.
The U.S. has begun training new Iraqi security forces at four sites, according to military officials. There are about 1,000 Iraqis at the al-Asad base in Anbar province, 1,800 at the Besmaya base to the south of Baghdad, 1,300 at Taji base to the north of the capital, and 300 Kurds in Erbil—the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
Those forces won’t be directly involved in the attack on Mosul. Instead U.S. commanders are urging Iraqi leaders to use those newly trained units to take over defensive positions around Baghdad and elsewhere and send more battle-experienced units to Mosul.
Under that plan, Gen. Austin said two Iraqi divisions are expected to lead the force that retakes Mosul this spring, forces that will go to U.S.-run training centers in the coming weeks to prepare for the offensive. Those forces will receive four to six weeks training by the U.S. to prepare for the fight in Mosul, according to military officials.
Military officials say they face a challenge in convincing Iraqi leaders to release their best and most experienced units from the defense of Baghdad and commit them to the offensive. Senior U.S. officials have told Iraqi counterparts that the only way to ultimately ensure the safety of the capital is to push Islamic State forces out of Mosul and other key areas they continue to control.
“Most of the best Iraqi units are in Baghdad, and that is the thing we have to shake them free of,” said a senior military officer. “They are reluctant to let their best units leave.”
Last year, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, raised the possibility in testimony before Congress that U.S. troops might need to accompany Iraqi forces during the Mosul fight to help call in airstrikes. Gen. Austin said he had made no decision but said he may request that the White House send in U.S. advisers alongside the Iraqi divisions.
“I am going to do what it takes to be successful, and it may very well turn out…that we may need to ask to have our advisers accompany the troops that are moving on Mosul,” he said.
But Central Command will not need to make a decision on whether to request U.S. advisers accompany Iraqi troops until close to the operations, Gen. Austin said.
He predicted Islamic State’s leadership wouldn’t be able to reestablish their supply lines, opening a possibility that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, could be forced to abandon Mosul.
“He could make a decision to fight and retake those lines of communications, which I expect him to do. I expect him to ultimately lose that fight,” Gen. Austin said. “He could make a decision to leave Mosul altogether and go back into Syria.”
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