Officials set ‘zero hour’ for battle for Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Following a meeting with Kurdistan region President Masoud Barzani on Monday, officials from Mosul arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday to set “zero hour” for the battle for Mosul, said an official quoting a Nineveh province delegate, Iraqi President Fuad Masoum and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi

“To launch a decisive and massive assault against ISIS in Mosul, the Mosul provincial council delegate met Barzani, and will later meet President Fuad Masoum, Haider al-Abadi and Salim Jabouri, the speaker of the parliament,” Saido Shingali, head of the Brotherhood and Coexistence Faction in the Nineveh provincial council, told Rudaw Wednesday.

After the ouster of Atheel Nojaifi, the former Mosul governor in exile, the Iraqi parliament elected Naufal Hamadi as the new governor. On October 11, he and an accompanying delegation arrived in Erbil to meet Barzani and Kurdish military officials to discuss the impending battle for Mosul.

“Upon the request of Naufal Hamadi, a delegation from the Nineveh provincial council visited the Kurdistan region for a meeting between Barzani and the new Mosul governor. [Barzani] expressed his fully support to the new Mosul governor and military plans to liberate Mosul,” Shingali said.

“‘Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq and has a long border with Kurdistan. We will coordinate with you and help you as much as we can,’” Shingali quoted Barzani as telling the Mosul delegation.

Barzani called on the delegate to “ask for your necessities in Baghdad, be serious for service and reconstructing areas after they are liberated in Nineveh province.”

“We will decide on the time frame to launch the Mosul liberation campaign,” Shingali also told Rudaw.