Islamic State says over 7,000 fighters ‘ready to defend Mosul’
ERBIL – The US-led coalition
said that ISIS has some 3,000 to 4,500 fighters in Mosul, and that there
are no signs that the radical is leaving its main bastion in northern
Iraq.
“We think anywhere from 3,000 to 4,500 [ISIS] fighters are in Mosul, somewhere in that ball park. It’s a mixture of Iraqi and foreign fighters,” US-led coalition’s spokesman Air Force Col. John Dorrian said.
However, Saudi fighter of ISIS, Abu Azzam al-Muhajir, told ARA News they have at least 7,000 fighters in Mosul, the ISIS main bastion in northwestern Iraq.
“Over 7,000 fighters are ready to defend Mosul,” he said.
“Also, there are still 500,000 civilians living in Mosul, and they will not accept to return to the central government’s authority and be rule by the Shia,” al-Muhajir told ARA News.
The US-led coalition said it will continue to attack ISIS in Mosul. “They show no signs of really trying to leave Mosul at this point. Really, what they’ve done is they’ve continued to dig in, build elaborate defenses and so we’re really ready for a tough fight there,” Colonel Dorrian said.
“The Iraqi security forces have been well trained to do urban style warfare. That’s one of the things that we’ve done for refit. We are expecting [ISIS to have] a mixture of Iraqis and foreign fighters. They do continue to flow in and some of them are fixed in place there,” he added.
Another ISIS source told ARA News that group has cordoned all the roads to Nineveh and has completed almost 80 per cent of their project to build trenches around Mosul, which are filled with crude oil. Moreover, they have put concrete cement near the entrances of the city’s neighbourhoods.
The US-led coalition official said that at least 8 to 12 brigades of the Iraqi army will march on Mosul. “We also expect the Iraqi police to be involved, because they’re going to be a part of the effort to maintain security once areas have been liberated, to hold those areas so Daesh [ISIS] can’t re-infiltrate,” Dorrian said.
“We think it’s going to be a very large battle. We do expect the [Kurdish] Peshmerga to be involved, although the details of their involvement are still being worked out. And we also expect there to be tribal forces involved,” he concluded.
Reporting by: Wladimir van Wilgenburg and Chalak Haji
Source: ARA News
Source: http://aranews.net/2016/10/islamic-state-says-7000-fighters-ready-defend-mosul/
“We think anywhere from 3,000 to 4,500 [ISIS] fighters are in Mosul, somewhere in that ball park. It’s a mixture of Iraqi and foreign fighters,” US-led coalition’s spokesman Air Force Col. John Dorrian said.
However, Saudi fighter of ISIS, Abu Azzam al-Muhajir, told ARA News they have at least 7,000 fighters in Mosul, the ISIS main bastion in northwestern Iraq.
“Over 7,000 fighters are ready to defend Mosul,” he said.
“Also, there are still 500,000 civilians living in Mosul, and they will not accept to return to the central government’s authority and be rule by the Shia,” al-Muhajir told ARA News.
The US-led coalition said it will continue to attack ISIS in Mosul. “They show no signs of really trying to leave Mosul at this point. Really, what they’ve done is they’ve continued to dig in, build elaborate defenses and so we’re really ready for a tough fight there,” Colonel Dorrian said.
“The Iraqi security forces have been well trained to do urban style warfare. That’s one of the things that we’ve done for refit. We are expecting [ISIS to have] a mixture of Iraqis and foreign fighters. They do continue to flow in and some of them are fixed in place there,” he added.
Another ISIS source told ARA News that group has cordoned all the roads to Nineveh and has completed almost 80 per cent of their project to build trenches around Mosul, which are filled with crude oil. Moreover, they have put concrete cement near the entrances of the city’s neighbourhoods.
The US-led coalition official said that at least 8 to 12 brigades of the Iraqi army will march on Mosul. “We also expect the Iraqi police to be involved, because they’re going to be a part of the effort to maintain security once areas have been liberated, to hold those areas so Daesh [ISIS] can’t re-infiltrate,” Dorrian said.
“We think it’s going to be a very large battle. We do expect the [Kurdish] Peshmerga to be involved, although the details of their involvement are still being worked out. And we also expect there to be tribal forces involved,” he concluded.
Reporting by: Wladimir van Wilgenburg and Chalak Haji
Source: ARA News
Source: http://aranews.net/2016/10/islamic-state-says-7000-fighters-ready-defend-mosul/
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