US General: combat troops being ‘considered’ for Mosul battle

WASHINGTON DC – The Pentagon’s top general said the United States is “considering” deploying troops to fight alongside Iraqi and Kurdish forces to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL).

"I'm not predicting at this point that I would recommend that those forces in Mosul and along the border would need to be accompanied by US forces,” General Martin E. Dempsey testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “But we're certainly considering it,” he said.

US President Barack Obama has ruled out combat forces to fight ISIS, which his Republican opponents have criticized.

During the testimony, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel predicted that the military campaign to defeat ISIS would be a "long and difficult struggle."

“As we enter a new phase of this effort, working to train and equip more counter-ISIL forces in both Iraq and Syria, we will succeed only with the strong support of Congress and the strong support of this committee,” he said.

He also added that “some progress” had been made by Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting ISIS with US-led air support.

“Since I testified before this committee two months ago, our campaign against ISIL has made progress. ISIL's advance in parts of Iraq has stalled and in some cases been reversed by Iraqi, Kurdish and tribal forces supported by US and coalition airstrikes,” he said.

US and partner nations have been using aerial bombardments against ISIS in Iraq and Syria for the past three months, enabling the Kurdish and Iraqi forces to reverse some of the militants gains made in July and August.

"ISIL’s advance in parts of Iraq has stalled," said the defense secretary.” In recent weeks, these strikes helped Peshmerga forces push ISIL out of Zumar, in northern Iraq, and helped Iraqi Security Forces begin re-taking areas around the major oil refinery at Baiji. Last weekend, air strikes hit a gathering of ISIL battlefield commanders near Mosul," he added.

Reports had been circulating that the weekend strike near Mosul had killed or wounded a number of ISIS leaders, including its head, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

But in a new audio recording that surfaced Thursday in Baghdadi’s name, the ISIS’ self-styled caliph called for “volcanoes of jihad” across the world and attacks in Saudi Arabia.

The defiant speech claimed that the US military campaign against ISIS was failing. “America and its allies are terrified, weak and powerless,” he said in the 17-minute recording, purported to be in Baghdadi’s name.

Last week, Obama approved sending 1,500 troops to Iraq, doubling the number of US servicemen and women in the country. Iraqi officials said on Tuesday that the US deployed 11 Apache helicopters in the western Anbar province -- a claim that has not been confirmed or denied by Washington so far.

Speaking about the US strategy to tackle ISIS, Hagel said that the military campaign alone would not win the war against the Islamic militants. He called for a holistic approach that includes involving local and regional stakeholders as well as cutting off the group's financial resources.

"Our comprehensive strategy is focused on supporting inclusive governance, sustaining a broad-based regional and global coalition, and strengthening local forces on the ground,” Hagel said.

“It also includes undercutting ISIL’s flow of resources; countering ISIL’s messaging; constricting the flow of foreign fighters; providing humanitarian assistance; and our intensive regional and global diplomatic effort."

US and other nations have been supplying Iraqi and Kurdish forces with weapons and ammunition for the fight against ISIS, but Kurdish officials have called for direct military assistance as Baghdad continues to be sluggish in processing weapons sent for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

"We are being punished for the victories achieved against IS (ISIS) while Baghdad is being rewarded for its defeats," the head of the Kurdistan Region's National Security Council, Masrur Barzani, told a visiting Hungarian delegation in Erbil.

"We have asked Baghdad for assistance, but it’s not ready to help the Kurdistan Region," he added.

According to Hagel, US and other nations have provided Kurdish forces with millions of rounds of ammunition and other supplies.

"US and coalition partners together have delivered over 2.7 million pounds of supplies, including 33 million rounds of ammunition, to Peshmerga forces alone," Hagel said, without explaining whether the military aid to the Kurds had been direct or routed through Baghdad.