ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The fight for Mosul will take another three months, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Tuesday as the ongoing battle to liberate the group’s stronghold in the northern Iraqi city is paused to allow Iraqi forces to regroup. Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of his cabinet in Baghdad, Abadi said “to finish ISIS, we need three more months.” Abadi had previously said that Iraqi forces expected to have control of the city by the end of the year. Iraqi and Kurdish forces made quick progress on the outskirts of Mosul and though the battle slowed in the heavily populated streets of the city, Abadi remained optimistic that ISIS would be quickly defeated in the city, meeting the end of year timeline he said as recently as late November in an interview with AP. The top US general commanding the global coalition of forces, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, estimated that another two years is needed to defeat ISIS in both Mosul and its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. He made his comments in an interview with The Daily Beast published Monday. In his press conference, Abadi also addressed remarks made by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister who described the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi as a “sectarian” force. “We reject remarks made by Adel Jubeir, the Saudi’s foreign minister about Hashd al-Shaabi and we ask Saudi to busy themselves solving their own problems,” Abadi said. The Shiite forces have been accused of committing human rights violations against Sunnis, particularly in the offensive to retake the city of Fallujah. They are participating in the Mosul offensive on the western front, cutting off ISIS’ supply and escape routes to Syria. This month, the force came under the control of Baghdad, being given official status under law. This move “prevents the spread of weapons outside the law,” Abadi said.
