Kurdistan, Iraq, and US agree on Mosul operation



Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), American, and Iraqi officials meet to discuss the upcoming Mosul operation

Sep. 19, 2016. (Photo: KRP)

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Representatives from the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, and the US met in Erbil on Monday to discuss the Mosul liberation operation.

The trilateral meeting, chaired by the Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, and attended by the Region, US, and Iraqi military personnel and diplomats, focused on preparations of the Mosul liberation.

According to a statement released on the Kurdistan Region Presidency website, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss “details of the Mosul operation.”

The statement added that “quickly moving forward with liberating Mosul is of great significance.”

“Peshmerga and Iraqi forces with the assistance of the US-led coalition shall begin the process of ridding the city of Mosul of the terrorists of the Islamic State [IS],”
the KRP statement continued.

Moreover, the report reiterated President Barzani’s “stance of preparing a fair and solid plan for the post-liberation of Mosul.”

“The people of Mosul who had been living under the barbarity of the [IS] terrorists deserve to lead better lives and collectively work towards a brighter future,” the President stated, according to the KRP website.

President Barzani thanked the people and government of the United States for their support to those in the Kurdistan Region.

The meeting was attended by Masrour Barzani, the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, and Karim Sinjari, the acting Minister of Peshmerga Affairs.

General Abdulamir al-Zaidi, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army, as well as other senior Iraqi military officials, was present.

US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman and several senior US military personnel including Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend took part in the meeting.

As the operation to liberate Mosul approaches, Peshmerga forces have five corridors to enter the IS-held city while the Iraqi army is limited to one.

Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq located in the north of the country.

IS has occupied the city since June 2014, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to the Kurdistan Region.

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