Washington:
As Iraqi forces move forward in their campaign to liberate Mosul city from the Islamic State, the US has said that dislodging the terror group from its self-declared capital would be a significant strategic development.
"I think the President would be the first to acknowledge that this is a significant test, given the population size of Mosul, given the large geographic area that it encompasses,"White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday.
"The symbolic importance that the ISIL (ISIS) has invested in their control of Mosul, dislodging them from the city would be a significant strategic game," he said. '
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"That's why the United States and our Iraqi partners have been working so closely over the last several months toprepare for this operation," Earnest said in response to a question.
Acknowledging that the battle for Mosul is the next testbecause progress has already been made on the ground in Iraq,and there have been cities like Ramadi and Tikrit that wereretaken from ISIS, he said, "these were significant cities,significant in their population size, that Iraqi securityforces did succeed in dislodging ISIL from.
They did that with the support of United States and our coalition partners,". Responding to a question, the White House official said he is not aware that any sort of specific time frame has been laid out for when that operation would be completed.
"Obviously, this represents the next important step in our campaigns campaign against ISIL in Iraq. The United States has mobilized a 67-member coalition to support the Iraqi government and Iraqi security forces as they seek to rid ISIL from their country," he added.
"Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq. It was the citywhere ISIL's leader announced their unfulfilled intent to forma caliphate. It is now the last major center of ISIL in Iraq,"Earnest said.
Asserting that the campaign has been months in the making and there have been a number of important steps taken by the Iraqi security forces with the strong support of the US and its allies, he said the assault is an important part of the broader effort to ultimately destroy ISIS.
"It's an indication that the effort is moving forward but there's still a lot of important work to be done before that goal will be realized, even inside of Iraq," he added.
The White House's reaction came after the Iraqi government announced that its security forces with the support of the counter-ISIS coalition began operations to liberate thenorthern Iraqi city of Mosul, the self-declared capital of the Islamic State.
