ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, insists the town of Shingal and key supply routes must be liberated before any attempt to retake Mosul from the Islamic State.
Barzani said the retaking of Shingal, or Sinjar, in Nineveh province is a precondition for going on the offensive in Iraq’s second largest city and the provincial capital, according to informed sources.
“Don’t talk about recapturing Mosul until Shingal has been captured,” Barzani was quoted as saying.
The Peshmerga, having already recaptured the strategic towns of Zumar and Rabia, is aiming to cut off several key ISIS transit routes from the militants’ strongholds in Syria to Mosul.
ISIS took over a large swathe of territory including much of Nineveh province in June. Shingal was later over-run, prompting an exodus by tens of thousands of members of the local local Yezidi community. US defence officials have said publicly that any operation to retake Mosul would take months to prepare.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the US was planning a big offensive against ISIS next spring. It would be carried out by Iraqi security forces, backed by American-led air power and hundreds of advisers.
The newspaper quoted US officials as saying the goal was to break ISIS’ occupation in northern and western Iraq, establish the Iraqi government’s control over Mosul and other population centres, and retake the country’s major roads and border with Syria by the end of 2015.
The offensive would require the training of three new Iraqi Army divisions - more than 20,000 troops - over the coming months.
"No doubt Shingal must be recaptured before Mosul because militarily, ISIS reinforcements cannot be blocked from Syria until Shingal is controlled," Bashar Kiki, the chairman of the Nineveh provincial council, said on Sunday.
Iraq Prime Minister Haider Abadi recently met local officials from Nineveh province, including Kiki and Atheel Nujaifi, governor of Nineveh.
"The liberation of Mosul is the liberation of Iraq and it’s a part of the strategy to fight ISIS," Abadi said in a statement issued by his office.
The Iraqi federal government is planning to set up military camps to train volunteers from Nineveh province.
“Almost 10,000 volunteers have been trained in different military bases. Two bases have been set up and the third is scheduled to be established to accommodate volunteers to fight to liberate Mosul, the capital of the Islamic State,” said Kiki.
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