ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi army announced Tuesday that the anticipated offensive to liberate al-Nasr village from the Islamic State (ISIS) had been postponed. “Today we were fully prepared to launch an attack on the Islamic State (ISIS) in al-Nasr village but we were informed by the commander of Nineveh to delay the offensive for unclear reasons,” Major Amin Shekhani, an official from the Iraqi Army, told Rudaw on Tuesday. Shekhani said that the offensive will take place in the future but didn't say when. Bashdar Aziz, a deputy commander in the Iraqi army, cited a string of hazards and problems -- including insufficient coalition air support and sectarian squabbling between the different forces allied against ISIS – that were preventing another offensive on the strategic al-Nasr village on the northern Makhmour front. Aziz said that Iraqi forces and militia’s fighting to push out ISIS militants had deployed for another offensive on the village Tuesday, after retreating the previous night. He said the forces lacked armored vehicles to advance in and faced the dual hazard of a small army of ISIS suicide attackers and landmines. “We have not received any orders, whether to advance or retreat. We are staying where we are for the time being,” he told Rudaw English on Tuesday afternoon. A large Iraqi force deployed outside al-Nasr village on the northern Makhmour front early on Tuesday awaiting orders for a full-scale offensive on the strategic village where ISIS has put up stiff resistance after nearly a fortnight of fighting. Despite air power provided by the US-led coalition and artillery support from a nearby US Marines base the Iraqi army’s advance in Makhmour has been slow, a fact admitted to even by the Iraqi defense minister. The Makhmour front has been defended by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces who remain on the front to defend their own lines and provide support to the Iraqis if need be.
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