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More than 100 U.S. troops embedded with Iraqi forces in fighting to retake Mosul: Pentagon

Xinhua, October 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

More than 100 U.S. troops are accompanying Iraqi and Kurdish forces in fighting to take back Iraq's second largest city Mosul from the extreme group of Islamic State (IS), the Pentagon said Tuesday.

U.S. troops embedded with those forces have to stay behind the last line of concealment, the last point where they can expect contact with the enemy, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said retaking Mosul would be a "key milestone" in his plan to defeat the IS.

"This will be a key milestone in what I committed to doing when ISIL first emerged, which is we were going to roll them back and we are going to ultimately drive them out of population centers and we will destroy them and defeat them," said Obama at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi after their bilateral talks.

"It will be a tough fight and a difficult fight," said Obama.

Davis said U.S. Apache helicopters, which have not been used yet, could provide close air support for Iraqi and American forces.

Those embedded U.S. forces are expected to provide artillery support, intelligence, logistics and other support for the Iraqi army fighting in Mosul. However, it's not clear how close U.S. forces will get to the fight in Mosul.

U.S. troops can embed at Iraqi army headquarters at the brigade and smaller battalion level, but have so far stayed at the division level, according to a TheHill news daily report.

About 18,000 Iraqi security forces are currently advancing on Mosul from the south and southeast, while Kurdish peshmerga forces are advancing on the city from the east, said Davis, adding there is no prediction yet on how long the battle to retake Mosul will take.

There are around 1 million to 1.5 million civilians trapped in Mosul, which has been occupied by the IS since June 2014. Endit