ERBIL, Kurdistan Region –After the recapture of the Qayara airfield by the Iraqi army southeast of Mosul earlier this month, there has been talk of turning it into a major air base for Iraqi and coalition forces in the final offensive against the Islamic State (ISIS) stronghold.
“The geographical location of Qayara air base is important for Iraq in general, particularly for the Mosul city, and at the Middle East level this could become an alternative base for the incirlik base for the United States,” Military Analyst Ali Al-Rubayee told Rudaw.
Al-Rubayee believes that the use of the Qayara base will facilitate US airstrikes and the liberation of Mosul a lot faster.
“When military planes fly from the US base in Qatar to do the job in Mosul it takes 3.5 hours, but from Qayara air base it could only take about 5 minutes, and this will help the US army to do the job in a very short and fast time.”
When US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visited Iraq last week, he stressed the importance of the airbase for the Mosul operation.
“The airfield seizure would create a “pincer” effect, placing Mosul between Iraqi security forces advancing from the south and Kurdish Peshmerga forces maneuvering from the north. The United States already had established one staging base southeast of Mosul, in Makhmour, in March, but Qayyarah Air Base will provide another foothold,” the Pentagon chief said, according to Washington Post.
US Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland echoed Carter’s statement, adding that the airfield will serve as an important supply base for local and coalition forces.
“We’re going to need airfield operations, and if you want to go in concentric circles around that we’re going to also have a logistics footprint there to facilitate the flow of goods and supplies and personnel through that airfield,” Lt. Gen. was quoted as saying.
“We’ll have a security envelope around that. We’ll have a communications capability there and a command-and-control or headquarters unit there, as well. There’s nothing really very sexy in any of that, but it’s all very necessary to keep the campaign moving forward.” He added
Al-Rubayee predicts that the use of the airfield may be the start of a permanent US air base.
“The US strategy is always looking for alternative options,” he said. “When the US came to Iraq the goal was not just the removal of Saddam, they’ve got long-term goals and strategy in the region.”
“Having the US base in Qayara is good news for the Kurdistan Region and Mosul, but it will annoy the neighbor Iran,” Al-Rubayee thought.
The US decision to send additional troops to Iraq was met with an angry response from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who said this week that there was no need for foreign forces for the Mosul battle and that “They will be target for us,”
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