Mosul campaign could take 2 more months, IS to remain a threat - U.S. coalition chief

Record ID: 76198

  • Title: Mosul campaign could take 2 more months, IS to remain a threat - U.S. coalition chief
  • Date: 7th December 2016
  • Summary: TOWNSEND WALKING PAST SOLDIERS SALUTING THEM TOWNSEND WALKING THROUGH HANGAR DECK OF CARRIER TOWNSEND TALKING TO SOLDIERS VARIOUS OF TOWNSEND SPEAKING TO SOLDIERS IN HANGAR DECK OF CARRIER VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS STANDING TOGETHER LISTENING FIGHTER PLANES PARKED ON DECK OF AIRCRAFT CARRIER FIGHTER PLANE READYING FOR TAKE-OFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) US LIEUTENANT GENERAL STEPHEN TOWNSEND SAYING: "I think they are going to be in Mosul - that is the sound of liberty right there - I think they are going to be working on Mosul for a number of weeks more, maybe a couple of months more probably." FIGHTER JET TAKING OFF FROM DECK OF CARRIER (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. LIEUTENANT GENERAL STEPHEN TOWNSEND SAYING: "So they will have to change what they are doing, become more of a virtual caliphate and I think devolve into an insurgency over time. In Iraq and Syria." FIGHTER JET TAKING OFF FROM AIRCRAFT CARRIER (SOUNDBITE) (English) US LIEUTENANT GENERAL STEPHEN TOWNSEND SAYING: "And I think, you know, we are not done, when Mosul is over we are still not done in Iraq. There is still about a third of the Euphrates river valley up to the Syrian border that has to be cleared, we have to - our partners have to go from Mosul out to the Syrian border in the west and re-establish control of their border. There is still a tough fight ahead even after Mosul." VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS STANDING TOGETHER IN HANGAR FOR TOWNSEND'S VISIT (SOUNDBITE) (English) US LIEUTENANT GENERAL STEPHEN TOWNSEND SAYING: "I don't know, I can't really predict, I don't have a crystal ball, can't predict the future. I do know that they have shown the ability to come back - al Qaeda in Iraq gave birth to ISIS, Daesh. What we have to do is we have got to play this differently so that ISIS doesn't give birth to the next extremist group that takes over Iraq." FIGHTER JET TAKING OFF FROM CARRIER (SOUNDBITE) (English) US LIEUTENANT GENERAL STEPHEN TOWNSEND SAYING: "We need to make sure we think, I think, we have a sustainable presence and a partnership with Iraq, the coalition, into the future." TOWNSEND'S BADGE AND FLAG ON HIS ARM SLEEVE (SOUNDBITE) (English) US LIEUTENANT GENERAL STEPHEN TOWNSEND SAYING: "Mosul is hard. It would challenge - it is a big complex city and the enemy has had two years to dig in and prepare their defenses. It would - Mosul would challenge the French army, it would challenge the United States army. It's really tough. But there is a government in Iraq and there is an army fighting to take back Mosul. In Syria we are trying to fight Daesh with local partners, adjacent to a civil war, with all sorts of outside influences." TOWNSEND WALKING WITH SOLDIERS INSIDE CARRIER
  • Embargoed: 22nd December 2016 15:05
  • Keywords: Iraq Mosul United States Islamic State Charles De Gaulle Townsend Inherent Resolve
  • Location: AT SEA
  • Reuters ID: LVA0025BVXOAV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The offensive against Islamic State in Mosul could take two more months, and even if the group is defeated there it will still pose a threat to Iraq and the West, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition fighting against it said.
    U.S. Lieutenant-General Stephen Townsend said Iraqi forces had made significant progress since the ultra-hardline militants rampaged through the north of the country in 2014 and then declared a caliphate that also straddled parts of Syria.
    "I think they are going to be working on Mosul for a number of weeks more, maybe a couple of months more probably," Townsend told Reuters in an interview aboard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during a visit with senior military officers.
    The U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition, which includes military forces from a range of Western and Arab countries, has been bombing Islamic State positions in both Syria and Iraq since 2014. It is now providing air support and some ground assistance to the Iraqi assault on Mosul in Iraq, and working with Kurdish and Arab fighters who have made advances against Islamic State in Syria.
    Townsend said victory in Mosul would not eradicate Islamic State, adding that after Mosul there was still a "tough fight ahead"
    While sooner or later Islamic State fighters would "realize they are going to lose their physical caliphate", he predicted they would adapt their tactics and remain a threat, even after all their territory was reclaimed.
    "They will have to change what they are doing and become more of a virtual caliphate, I think. Devolve into an insurgency over time. In Iraq and Syria," he said.
    Iraq's recent history, in which Islamic State formed from the remnants of al Qaeda fighters subdued during eight years of U.S. occupation, shows that defeating one militant group can lead to the emergence of a graver danger. Townsend said this meant coalition countries would have to keep a presence in Iraq.
    "I don't have a crystal ball. I can't predict the future. I do know that they have shown the ability to come back. Al Qaeda in Iraq gave birth to ISIS, Daesh," said Townsend, using two acronyms to refer to Islamic State, also known as ISIL.
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