ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said on Thursday that Kurdish Peshmerga forces are ready to play a “significant role” in the liberation of Mosul, adding that agreement was needed on how the city would be administered after it is retaken from the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
“The Peshmerga will have a significant role in the liberation of Mosul, but all sides need to reach an agreement on how to run the city after liberation,” Barzani told a joint press conference in Erbil with visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
“The safety and security of minorities needs to be assured before the operation,” he added. “There must be a guarantee that minorities will not face the same past catastrophe.”
Mosul fell to ISIS in June 2014, since then no effort has been made by the Iraqi army to retake the city.
Iraq's defense minister Khaled al-Obaidi previously told Rudaw that “the Mosul operation will take place no later than the first half of this year."
Meanwhile, at a news conference at the US embassy in Baghdad earlier this month, Brett McGurk, the US envoy for the coalition fighting ISIS, said the operation will be “very complicated” and needs to be “well-planned,” as a mix of forces are involved.
