Iraqi PM says armed forces prepare offensive to retake Mosul

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says its armed forces are preparing for an offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS).

Abadi told the BBC he hoped Mosul would be liberated by the end of the year, and with a minimum of casualties.

Mosul, which was home to more than a million people, fell to IS last June.

Abadi also said he had been "a bit frustrated" in his first few months in office by the slowness of international help for the fight against IS. But in recent weeks, he added, the situation had changed for the better.

Abadi replaced his party colleague, Nouri al-Maliki, as prime minister in September. Maliki, also a Shia Muslim, was widely criticized for alienating Iraq's Sunni Arab minority by pursuing sectarian policies.

IS is believed to have capitalized on that alienation when it captured large parts of northern and western Iraq last summer, routing the army.

Soldiers and allied Shia militiamen have now begun to retake territory north of the capital Baghdad with the help of U.S.-led coalition air strikes, while Kurdish Peshmerga forces have made advances around Mosul.

In an interview with the BBC, Abadi said Iraqi government forces were "planning an offensive on Mosul in the next few months". However, he did not specify when the offensive might be launched, saying that he hoped it would be before the end of the year.

The timing of the assault depended "on the situation on the ground" and "our own preparation", he said.

Abadi said the operation's success would also hinge upon close coordination between Iraqi security forces, the U.S. military, and the Peshmerga.

"We don't want problems in liberating Mosul, or friction in that sense," he explained.

The Iraqi leader said he initially wished that the U.S.-led coalition could have acted faster in the campaign against IS. "I was a bit frustrated in my first three months of being a prime minister because of the slowness of this support."

But, he said, it had improved in the last four or five weeks, adding: "I think the air campaign has increased in its quality and intensity."

Abadi ruled out the need for U.S. ground troops in the campaign, saying his country needed other forms of help, such as weapons and training.

He also said he opposed closer involvement from other countries in the region in the fight against IS.

"We welcome their support, but not for these countries to get involved inside Iraq. We will end up having not only helpers on our hand, but countries and intelligence agencies and armies trying to achieve their own interests."