In battle for Mosul, many forces driven by dozens of motives

An unlikely array of forces is converging on the city of Mosul, lining up for a battle on the historic plains of northern Iraq that is likely to be decisive in the war against the Islamic State group.

The usual alliance — Iraqi troops alongside Shiite militiamen, Kurdish fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and US Special Forces — underscores the importance of this battle. Retaking Mosul, Iraq’s secondlargest city, would effectively break the back of the militant group, ending their self-declared “caliphate,” at least in Iraq. Gary Volesky, a major general who is head of US ground forces in Iraq banks provided a massive cash boost to the group, and the city’s infrastructure and resources helped IS as it set up its caliphate across Iraq and Syria.

Mosul was the location chosen by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to make his first public appearance after declaring the caliphate, a triumphant sermon delivered at a historic mosque in the old city. For the past two years, much of the leadership seems to have operated from Mosul.

If Mosul is retaken, it would be a nearly complete reversal of the jihadis’ 2014 sweep. The groupwouldbeleftwithonlya few pockets of territory in Iraq. IS fighters have already responded to battlefield losses by reverting to guerrilla-style tactics or retreating into neighboring Syria to defend the group’s territory there, which is also rapidly eroding.

For weeks, the disparate forces have clawed back territory in Nineveh province, where Mosul is located, seizing villages and key supply lines. Still, the Iraqi military’s closest position is some 50 kilometers south of Mosul and there remain dozens of militantheld villages with civilian populations that the troops must take before reaching the city’s outskirts. Kurdish forces are closer, some within 15 km of the city to the north and east.

US-led coalition forces have sped up training for Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters, condensing courses that once took more than two months into just four weeks. In July, the Pentagon announced that 560 more US troops would deploy to Iraq to transform Qayara air base, south of Mosul, into a staging hub for the final assault.

Still, Iraq’s military is thousands of soldiers short of the estimated 30,000 troops needed to launch the assault, and theexistingforcesarestretched thin trying to hold other recaptured territory, particularly in western Anbar province.

Iraq’s “biggest challenge is generating the forces required to get to Mosul,” said Major General Gary Volesky, the head of US ground forces in Iraq. “If you want to pull someone out of Anbar to go to Mosul, you’ve gottoputsomebodyelsethere.”

[The] biggest challenge is generating the forces required to get to Mosul.”