DUHOK, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi Army is building a military camp near the Mosul Dam and US soldiers are arriving at the Bashiqa mountain north of Mosul, as preparations get underway for an offensive to push the Islamic State (ISIS) out of its stronghold in Iraq, Kurdish military sources said. Kurdistan’s Duhok province has a long frontline with ISIS in Mosul. That is where the Iraqi Army is setting up three forward bases for the advance on Mosul. The military camps have already been built on two sites. “It’s been four days since the Iraqi Army began working on building a military camp, which has been about 80 percent completed,” a Peshmerga source told Rudaw, speaking on condition of anonymity from the Mosul Dam. “An Iraqi Army battalion has arrived at the camp and all the soldiers and officers are Sunni Arabs,” he disclosed. The frontlines from Duhok province are Hardan, east of Shingal, the Mosul Dam and Bashiqa- Nawaran. Meanwhile, a Peshmerga commander at the Bashiqa Mountain told Rudaw that a military camp is under construction at his location for new US troops arriving for the Mosul battle. General Bahram Doski, the Peshmerga commander in Bashiqa, told Rudaw: “From this frontline the Iraqi army will move towards Mosul, and an Iraqi army battalion will arrive here.” The Hashd al-Watani Sunni forces, most of them from Mosul, are now based at the Dubardan military base near Bashiqa. Their commanders say they are well prepared and trained for the upcoming battle. “We have not received new weapons and ammunition yet, either from Baghdad or anywhere else, but we are supposed to get them within few days,” Lt. Gen. Mohammed Yahya, commander of the Dubardan military base, told Rudaw. Mosul fell to ISIS on June 10, 2014. An offensive is anticipated this month, involving the Peshmerga, Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition, to retake the city.
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