“Turkey won’t take part in the Mosul battle, they only train us. We will join with the Iraqi army, federal police and Peshmerga forces and will take part in the battle and expel ISIS from Mosul,” General Mohammed Yahya, deputy commander of the Hashd al-Watani from Gudad military base in Bashiqa, northern Iraq, told Rudaw.
The Gudad base is where 2,500 members of the Sunni Hashd al-Watani militias have received training from the Turkish army in preparation for the offensive to retake Mosul.
According to information obtained by Rudaw, a Turkish military official in Bashiqa reported that Turkish troops at the base have carried out several activities against ISIS in the area. Turkish troops killed 690 ISIS militants, destroyed 521 ISIS houses, destroyed 4 warehouses of weapons and ammunition and a media center, and destroyed 104 vehicles, 1 tank and 19 artillery, a source told Rudaw.
A Peshmerga commander in the area, however, said that on their frontlines only the Peshmerga, backed by coalition airstrikes, are active against ISIS.
“In the area under our control, only Peshmerga on the ground and the coalition in the sky are fighting ISIS. No other forces are,” Tariq Hareiy, commander of Spilk Peshmerga command, told Rudaw. “But we will welcome any force that will fight ISIS. We will consider them as brothers and thank them.”
Turkish troops day-by-day are strengthening their position in Bashiqa. As of now, there are more than 500 Turkish soldiers and 100 advisors in the camp.
Recent tensions between Iraq and Turkey over the presence of Turkish troops and their role in the northern Iraq have escalated and have been considered an obstacle to the launch of the Mosul battle if not resolved soon.
