IS Girding for Anticipated US-Kurdish Assault on Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Major military preparations are underway by Islamic State (IS) militants in their stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq in anticipation of a major assault by US and Kurdish forces, according to sources inside.

The militants are in full military gear and seen digging trenches and building barriers, said a source in Mosul, capital of Nineveh province.
They are also reinforcing defenses on major roads connecting Iraq’s second-largest city to Kurdish-held areas.

Fighters – particularly foreign jihadis – are believed to have been deployed around the city, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Islamic militants are particularly concentrated on the borders of Duhok province in the south, and on the frontline south of Kirkuk.

A major attack by the US air force and Kurdish ground troops is anticipated on Mosul, the first city in Iraq to fall to the militants in June.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over Salahaddin province on Wednesday, warning people to stay away from IS installations and wherever the militants are gathered.

Similar flyers were dropped on the city of Tikrit ahead of an Iraqi army assault, according to an Iraqi official.

But the militants have so far repelled several major assaults by the Iraqi army on the city of Tikrit.

Over the past two weeks the jihadis have lost much territory in Nineveh to Kurdish Peshmerga forces, who have killed more than 100 militants and two top military commanders.

In Paris on Monday, a US-led coalition of 26 nations pledged financial and military support to defeat the IS, which has declared an Islamic caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria and vows to take its jihad to the world.

ISIS has no air assets, is hugely outnumbered, and in many cases is stretched thinly across a wide expanse. The Iraqi military in Mosul had a 25-1 advantage... and yet ISIS went through them like a hot knife through warm butter.

Thank God for the Kurds... they at least have an appreciation for self-defense. Arm and equip them, and no one in that region could defeat them.

The militants are in full military gear and seen digging trenches and building barriers...

Trenches, really? These idiots are gearing up for WWI.

If we really wanted to, we could clean their clocks in time for supper which convinces me "we" are not really serious about destroying ISIS.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.