Posted on 10/16/2016 6:07:55 PM PDT by Kaslin
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced late Sunday the start of a military offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city, from the Islamic State group.
State TV showed a brief written statement announcing the start of the widely anticipated military offensive to drive the terror group out of the northern city home to more than a million civilians.
Broadcasts showed the prime minister, dressed in a military uniform, speaking while flanked by senior officers. State TV broadcast patriotic music within minutes of the announcement.
The thuds of sporadic artillery shelling rumbled across the rolling Nineveh plains in the direction of Mosul, witnesses said.
Mosul fell to the Islamic State group in June of 2014, when the extremist group blitzed across northern and western Iraq, overrunning nearly a third of the country and plunging Iraq into its most critical political and security crisis since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
"Godspeed to the heroic Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, and Ninewa volunteers," Brett McGurk, US Envoy to the coalition against ISIS, said in a tweet. "We are proud to stand with you in this historic operation."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I wish them luck. We did it once— I want not one damned AMERICAN casulty. We spent all week bashing the Russians for killing civilians in Allepo!! Are we now going to kill civilians in MOSUL with our bombs? This is utter madness. I have a solution. I don’t give a crap about the middle east. We need to NUKE up and get these cut throat moslems out of our Christian nation and if they strike the USA again— Turn them to glass in the sand. Amen
It’s a strange coalition of forces. There are American, French and German troops in small numbers, as well as Iraqi Army, Shia militias, Kurds and Turks. It might be the first time Kurds and Turks fought on the same side, and we’re fighting alongside Gen. Soleimani.
I hope they don’t let ISIS escape to Syria.
John Bolton said on WRKO’s Jeff Kuhner Show on Friday that Obama and the Saudis made a deal to allow ISIS a safe passage to Syria to join the fight against Assad. He also said the Russians know about it and have stated this would be an overt act of war.
It’s a strange coalition of forces. There are American, French and German troops in small numbers, as well as Iraqi Army, Shia militias, Kurds and Turks. It might be the first time Kurds and Turks fought on the same side, and we’re fighting alongside Gen. Soleimani.
I hope they don’t let ISIS escape to Syria.
The whole Mosul op is way too theatrical to be legit, IMO. ISIS bugged out long ago most likely.
They better watch out—It was rushed to help Hillary win—it might be a trap.
My general philosophy is “Kill them all and let god sort it out”.
They will booby-trap the h*ll out of Mosul, and then probably 90% will pull out before surrounded. Then 10% will stay and fight to the death ala Stalingrad.
They’re going to drive slowly out of Mosul with all their weapons and child brides, and will be escorted all the way to Deir Ezzor in Syria by NATO forces.
Meanwhile the compliant media will tell stirring stories of the destruction of ISIS.
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