US General Says Iraqi Forces Soon To Launch Ground Offensive Vs ISIS
Iraq is poised to deploy its forces to carry out a massive ground offensive versus the ISIS to retake the large swathes of land the latter captured in the previous months. John Allen, the US coordinator for the anti-IS coalition of Western and Arab countries, told Jordan's official Petra news agency the ground mission is slated to begin “in the weeks ahead.”
The planned ground counter offensive will be a “major” one, Allen said that when it is being carried out, “the coalition will provide major aerial firepower associated with that." He stressed it will be the Iraqis who would lead the offensive.
The U.S.-led coalition composed of 60 nations had relentlessly carried out its air campaign against the ISIS since August 2014. Since six months ago, about 2,000 airstrikes have been launched against ISIS targets in Iraq, US secretary of state John Kerry said. On Thursday, Jordan started carrying out more than the airstrikes it committed to do for the coalition, to avenge the death of one of its fighter pilots. The oil kingdom said on Monday that about 56 air raids were conducted since that day.
Jordanian air force chief Major General Mansour al-Jobour said those airstrikes had destroyed 19 targets, including training camps and equipments. He added Jordan’s initiative alone had destroyed “20 percent of the fighting capabilities of Daesh,” another name for ISIS.
Kerry said the airstrike campaign since August had helped Iraq win back some 700 square kilometres (270 square miles) of territory. It corresponded to about one-fifth of the area the ISIS controls. The airstrikes "deprived the militants of the use of 200 oil and gas facilities ... disrupted their command structure ... squeezed its finance and dispersed its personnel." Maj Gen Jobour said over 7,000 ISIS militants had been killed since then.
As Iraq has decided to send in its troops to fight the ISIS on the ground, debate on whether the members of the coalition should also send theirs won’t be far behind. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a likely 2016 GOP presidential candidate, had said he is open to the idea of sending U.S. troops to finish the job versus ISIS. "The mission should be defeating ISIS before they succeed in carrying out more horrific acts of terror, before they succeed in murdering Americans. If need be, we should go that step," Cruz told George Stephanopoulos, anchor of "This Week" program.
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