Washington has increased the number of troops in Iraq to 8,000 people, and is preparing an operation to liberate Mosul.
The US has decided not to participate in the liberation of the Syrian city of Raqqa. Instead, Washington is planning to storm the capital of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Iraq – the city of Mosul, the Izvestiya newspaper reported, citing a high-ranking source in the Syrian Defense Ministry. According to the source, US President Barack Obama’s administration needs an international victory ‘at any cost’.
According to the source, earlier, the White House believed that the US will be able to organize taking of the two capitals, using others, and show the world their ‘victory’ before the presidential elections in the country.
“However, ultimatum of Turkey, which has demanded not enjoy the support of Syrian Kurds in order to storm the city [Raqqa], forced the US to abandon one of the goals,” the newspaper’s source noted. “The US wants to achieve a propaganda victory at any cost. The US presidential election will be soon. Barack Obama and the US Democrats need to show that they have achieved at least some results, supporting in this way candidate of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton.”
The fact of preparing US troops to storm Mosul was also confirmed by a senior Iraqi military, speaking to the newspaper on condition of anonymity. He said that the US wants to start the operation to liberate Mosul in mid-October, but at the same noted that the offensive operation is not ready, as the Iraqi Army has not concentrated all its efforts to capture the city.
“In recent months, the US presence in Iraq has significantly increased, and their [US military’s] actions intensified. There are those who have come here from Syria. Military of the US come to Iraq every month – only in September, 500 military men arrived. The number of US troops reached the mark of 8,000 men,” the senior Iraqi military said.
It is notable that during a debate, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, said that terrorists will be driven out of Iraq by the end of 2016. At the same time, she just noted that terrorists in Syria “will be hamstrung.” According to experts, such Clinton’s statements should be viewed as a vector of the current US administration.
As a former head of the Israeli intelligence service, Yakov Kedmi, said in an interview with Izvestiya, despite the fact that verbally the US wants to take both Raqqa and Mosul, in fact Washington does not have opportunities to do this.
Kedmi noted that only Syrian Kurds are able to take Raqqa, but the US cannot use their forces, as Turkey is strongly opposed to this. “For this reason, an operation to take Raqqa is impossible for the US. It [the US] either has to spoil relations with Turkey, or to forget about the Syrian target,” the former head of the Israeli intelligence service concluded.
At the same time, he noted that the situation in Iraq is otherwise. According to the expert, the US can recoup in Iraq and show the entire world its power. Good relations between Ankara and Iraqi Kurds can greatly simplify the task of taking Mosul. However, Kedmi also pointed out that the Iraqi Army is not ready for the storm. He allowed the possibility that the entire plan of taking the city of Mosul could end with a large number of victims and a new humanitarian catastrophe.
