ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A long-anticipated battle to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS) will be difficult, bloody and long, the spokesman of the US-led coalition warned Tuesday. US Army Col.Steve Warren dismissed claims that the coalition had signed any secret agreements to reclaim Mosul from ISIS. Speaking to reporters at the US embassy in Baghdad, Warren said that an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 militants from the ISIS group are expected to be inside Mosul and other parts of the province. He warned that ISIS fighters will fiercely fight off any offensive to defend what is Iraq’s second-largest city and the group’s stronghold in the country. "There will be difficult battle, bloody battle and will be long one," he predicted. Warren urged Iraqis in ISIS-held areas to remain patient, pledging that Iraqi forces would liberate their areas. "It is difficult to say how long we need to free Mosul, but I would like to tell the people in Mosul you will be freed. Just hold on, it will take time," he warned. There has been no plan to bring infantry troops by the US-led coalition to Iraq, unless the Iraqi government calls for them. Warren revealed that some 5,600 troops and trainers from the coalition are now based and on duty in Iraq, doing their part in the fight against ISIS. He said that 3,600 of that number are Americans and the rest from other countries in the coalition. ISIS took control of Mosul in June 2014 in a matter of a few hours. In the face of an ISIS blitzkrieg, several Iraqi army and police divisions melted away and fled the city towards Baghdad.
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