US begins talks on how to push IS out of Mosul
A US official tells Al-Monitor that more US military aid will flow to Iraq once it creates a new government that contains a “critical mass” from each of Iraq’s political parties.
US officials have begun discussions with local leaders in Iraq’s Ninevah province about how to recapture the city of Mosul in the wake of the successful operation to recover control of Mosul Dam from the Islamic State (IS), a US official said.
In an interview Aug. 20 with Al-Monitor, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, predicted that recovering Iraq’s second largest city — which was seized by IS on June 10 — would “require local forces” and be a long-term project.
“We’re in touch with the governor of Ninevah and all the Iraqi leaders and a number of sheikhs from the area about how to begin to take territory away from ISIL,” the official said, using an alternate acronym for the extremist group.
The official spoke while the US Central Command announced 14 more US airstrikes “in the vicinity of Mosul Dam,” bringing the total of US airstrikes in Iraq to 84 since Aug. 8.
