UNITED NATIONS, September 22 (Sputnik), Leandra Bernstein – The Kurdish Peshmerga forces are certain to participate in the military operation to drive the Islamic State (IS) out of the Iraqi city of Mosul, Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Foreign Minister, Falah Mustafa Bakir told Sputnik on Thursday.
“We are ready to play a role as we have done, because we are proud to be the front–line partners in this fight,” Bakir said.
The KRG forces are currently encircling Mosul from the west, north east, along with Iraqi and US-led coalition allies.
“As far as we are concerned, the Peshmerga forces played an important role from the beginning until now to push back and defeat ISIS, and they can also play an important role in this last piece of the war,” Bakir stated, noting that the liberation of Mosul will be the “most important” fight against IS in Iraq.
According to US officials, the operation to liberate Mosul could begin in the coming weeks, possible as soon as mid-October. The Islamic State has occupied the city since June 2014, leading many military experts to anticipate a difficult battle to remove an entrenched enemy.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201609231045612674-peshmerga-frontline-mosul-liberation/
