ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Coalition warplanes pounded the Islamic State (ISIS) west of Mosul on Sunday, as firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr vowed that his militia would back the fight to push the Sunni extremists out of the Iraqi city.
Coalition forces carried out at least three air raids early Sunday in the town of Aski, west of Mosul, targeting armored vehicles carrying ISIS fighters across the Badosh frontline, Peshmerga commander Moghadam Lughman Chato told Rudaw.
He said the warplanes had inflicted substantial damage to the militants, and that they were monitoring ISIS movements.
Meanwhile Sadr, whose gunmen fought US forces in Iraq after the 2003 invasion and who has been known for his anti-American sentiments, vowed that his militia would be part of the operation to retake Mosul, which ISIS captured last June.
“We will drive ISIS fighters out of the beloved city of Mosul with the help of God,” Sadr said in a statement, in which he also called for the US to participate in the operation.
Of late, the cleric has frequently called for better coordination among his militiamen, Iraqi troops and coalition forces in the war against ISIS.
The liberation of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest, is expected to be a joint operation involving the Iraqi army, the autonomous Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces, local tribes and coalition air power.
There has been no official date set for the Mosul offensive, but it is widely expected to come in April or May.
The Islamic State (ISIS) governor of Mosul was killed in an airstrike Friday night, said a Kurdish official.
Coalition forces have recently intensified their air strikes around Mosul.
Shakir al-Hamdani, the ISIS governor of Mosul, was killed along with several bodyguards in a coalition air raid on his convoy south of the city.
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