“There is a high committee who will be responsible for the Mosul operation and I’m the head of the committee,” Hamadi told Rudaw. “We have enough forces to liberate Mosul and no other troops are needed.”
“We have taken over the most important military base through the efforts of the Iraqi army and security forces with no participation of any other force,” Hamadi added, referring to the successful offensive to retake Qayara airbase.
Hamadi said that they can liberate Mosul without relying on any other parties, claiming that the plan has been finalized and they are just waiting for the right time to launch the operation.
Some people from Mosul who are currently living in the Kurdistan Region have expressed concern about the participation of Shiite militia, known as Hashd al-Shaabi, in the battle.
“What we witnessed from Hashd al-Shaabi was inhumane. That is why we refuse to agree to their participation in the battle,” said a family.
Sunni leaders have warned that the Shiite militia have detained and tortured civilians fleeing Fallujah.
The majority of the population of Mosul, like Fallujah, is Sunni.
The United States announced last month that they would send an additional 560 troops to Iraq. About 400 from the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky will be deployed to Qayara airbase where they will assist in setting up a logistics base as part of the preparations for the liberation of Mosul, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The decision to send additional American troops to Iraq was met with an angry response from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who said that there was no need for foreign forces in the Mosul battle. “They will be a target for us,” he declared.
The battle for Mosul has been repeatedly postponed over the past year as the Iraqi army has been more focused on retaking territory from the militants in central parts of the country.
The anticipated offensive to push ISIS out of Mosul is expected to involve the Iraqi army and its allied militias, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and the US-led coalition, which has been providing air support in the war against the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city some 400 km north of Baghdad, fell to ISIS in June 2014 when an estimated 1,300 militants occupied government offices, army facilities and the airport, forcing thousands of civilians to flee.
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