Anti-IS coalition meets with Mosul in its sights

WASHINGTON: Top diplomatic and military officials from the USled coalition fighting the Islamic State group met Thursday to prepare the assault on the city of Mosul, the jihadists’ Iraqi bastion.

Defence and foreign ministers from more than 40 countries gathered in Washington for a second day as their local militia allies made advances in Syria.

While news from that front was dominated by the Syrian Democratic Forces’ siege of Manbij, a city in northern Syria, the leaders in Washington were focused on a far bigger prize.

“Mosul will be the ultimate test,” Brett McGurk, the US special presidential envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL -- another term for the IS group -- told the assembled delegates.

Backed by coalition air strikes and military advisers, Iraqi and Kurdish forces have made inroads in recent months into territory once controlled by IS group fighters. But the daunting target of Mosul, Iraq’s second city that is home to two million people, will be the campaign’s center of gravity in the weeks and months to come.

“I am confident we are going to succeed, we are going to deprive Daesh of its geographical base,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said after the talks concluded, using his preferred term for the group, an acronym formed from its Arabic initials. “But Daesh will remain dangerous even when that defeat takes place,” he warned.

On the first day of the talks, the defense ministers met separately to talk battlefield tactics while the foreign ministers pledged 2 billion in reconstruction funds.

The officials hailed the sum, but warned it may not be enough once the final battle is underway. “We note with concern that military operations to liberate Mosul... and the possible displacement of up to one million people as a result, could increase humanitarian needs even beyond the recently pledged resources,” their final statement read. — AFP