By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
 
Iraqi troops and volunteer forces are yet to fulfill their pledge to liberate the city of Mosul from ISIL.
Iraqi officials now say they will have a full victory in a few months. The United States has offered "advisers” and attack helicopters for the battle, but for obvious reasons it has done the opposite.
After all, it was Washington and its allies that admittedly created ISIL and ripped open old wounds to revive divisions between Sunni and Shia Muslims under the full spectrum dominance doctrine. Baghdad is in the know. That’s why deep inside it’s not happy to see the U.S. being part of the Mosul operation.
Perhaps that also explains why the Pentagon says the city may not be liberated anytime soon. It doesn’t change the fact that the foreign-backed terrorist group has been losing many battles and territory in both Iraq and Syria.   
The terrorist group has consistently lost territory throughout 2016. It just lost the city of Aleppo in Syria. Due to the military intervention by Iran and Russia, the losses also include large swathes of Syria’s northern border with Turkey, including the Tal Abyad border crossing, which was the group’s main access point to the Turkish border from their de-facto capital Raqqa.
This has had a negative financial impact on ISIL due to the loss of control of the border crossing prior to the recent intensification of Russian-Syrian airstrikes against the group’s oil smuggling business. Other substantial losses in Iraq include the Iran-backed liberation of Tikrit and Ramadi, the fiercely contested Baiji refinery complex, and a stretch of the main highway between Raqqa and Mosul, which complicates the transfer of goods and terrorists between the two largest ISIL-controlled cities.
This clearly indicates ISIL is overstretched and soon it will be even more heavily overstretched when the operation to liberate Mosul is complete. Indeed, the ongoing offensive, although complex, is a done deal. That’s why the Iraqi army and allied irregular troops, backed by Iranian military advisors, training, aircraft, drones, heavy artillery, surveillance and intelligence are wasting no time to retake the city. They have already liberated other key towns.
Trying to recapture Mosul makes sense. It is the biggest city held by ISIL. The liberation will shorten the supply line between Baghdad and the Turkish border. What’s more, the operation is not just about Iraq. It is also about Syria. Once fully liberated, Iraq will pave the way for complete liberation of Syria.
In summation, despite the grim assessments by the Pentagon, the allied forces will win this battle too. They will dislodge the Salafi-Takfiri militants with minimum civilian casualties.