Mosul Liberation a Triumph, US Participation Suspicious: Expert

Commenting on the US presence in the operation, Assadollahi pointed to Washington’s record of misconduct in bias and support to ISIS terrorists during its so-called backing for Iraqi forces operations, raising the concerns that the US-led Western military coalition could act in a way in Mosul recapture operation that will facilitate exit of ISIS' leaders from the northern Iraq city and their entry to Syria. The Iranian expert maintained that liberation of Mosul will deal the terrorist group a big military, security, and spiritual blow, and will mark a triumph for the Iraqi government and all parties contributing to fight against ISIS. He continued the battle will be accomplished only if it leads to arrest or killing of the terror fighters in Mosul.
 
The full text of the interview is as follows:
 
Q: Mr. Assadollahi first of all give us your evaluation of the recently-launched Mosul liberation assault and the forces involved in the operation.
 
Assadollahi: The process of liberation of Mosul is approximately like liberation of Fallujah in the sense that the liberating forces first push for taking back the peripheral regions and will not to go directly to the city’s center. Because if they reclaim the surrounding regions, they can tighten the blockage and then storm the city. So, the retaking process could take some time but in this case the city encirclement will be accomplished in 360 degrees. Once the encirclement completed, the main phase will ensue. Naturally, the federal police, the army, and security forces which all operate under the government’s command are directly taking part in the assault. The role of Public Mobilization Forces (PMF) is crucial in the combat operation. Additionally, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces are participating in the fight because Mosul is close to the Kurdish-inhabited areas. They were not present in Fallujah liberation offensive, however.
 
Q: Can you explain more about PMF's role, and that why the Americans are against presence of this popular voluntary force in Mosul liberation?
 
Assadollahi: PMF take a very active role in the underway operation, though the Americans went to the great lengths to bar them from presence in the battleground. They used baseless sectarian and religious excuses to paint the liberation operation as a point of Shiite-Sunni conflict and imply that Mosul is a Sunni city and should be freed from the terrorists by purely Sunni forces. But the PMF has proven that it never acted on religious and sectarian bases whenever it took part in liberating assaults. It well displayed itself as a mixed force involving all of the Iraqi religious cults. This means that even the Sunnis and Christians are part of PMF.
 
Q: Why are there concerns about the role of the US forces in liberation of Mosul?
 
Assadollahi: The US and other Western countries formed the US-led international military coalition two years ago following fall of Mosul to the ISIS terrorist group. They claim that they are contributing to the operation in terms of air covering the battling forces, directing the artillery strikes, and also giving military advices to the Iraqi forces. But we all know that participation of the US and Western coalition as a whole in the assault is unfortunately suspicious; that is, instead of backing the liberation process they pave the way for ISIS fighters' escape. Now, too, there are worries that the Western coalition acts in a way that the ISIS chiefs manage to flee to Syria from the common borders.
 
Q: What are Turkey’s goals for taking part in the operation?  Why is Ankara so insistent to join the anti-terror campaign?
 
Assadolahi: Turkey pushes for participation with a couple of objectives. First, Ankara holds historical claims about Mosul. It argues that Mosul was a Turkish city and the Sykes-Picot Agreement unrightfully separated it from mainland Turkey. This claim is questionable because a majority of Mosul’s residents are Arabs and there is very small Turkmen minority in the ISIS-held city. This comes while the Turkmens are spread across other Iraqi regions and this should not allow the Turks to claim ownership of other regions in Iraq. Anyway, (the Turkish President) Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that he now has ahead an appropriate opportunity to actualize this historical claim.
 
Still another reason for the Turkish interventions has something to do with position of Mosul. This city is very influential in northern Iraq, and should a group or force seizes control of Mosul, it will actually control Iraq’s north in its entirety. Therefore, Erdogan aims at entry to Mosul battle to secure a place in the country’s developments, especially the northern Iraq’s developments.
 
The third reason for intervention in Iraq is that Turkey’s president is worried that army could plot a new coup against him, so he tries to busy the army with cross-border military operations to get it away from the center and important cities at home. This is why the Turkish army was involved in fight in northern Syria. At the same time, Erdogan is interested to follow this game in Iraq. This comes while this move by Tukey is very risky and based on a miscalculation, and its outcomes could be dangerous for Turkey and the region as a whole.
 
Q: How is your outlook for the underway Mosul recapture operation?
 
Assadollahi: Without doubt liberation of Mosul will be a breakthrough for the Iraqi people and government. Because on the one hand Mosul is one of Iraq’s most important cities and on the other hand the city is the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS in Iraq, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, (the leader of the terrorist group), issued his caliphdom statement for the first time from Mosul. So, if Mosul is freed, it will deal the terrorist group a big military, security, and spiritual blow, and will mark a triumph for the Iraqi government and all parties contributing to war against ISIS. This victory will be accomplished provided that ISIS fighters are arrested or killed. If they manage to flee and cross the border into Syria, we will witness rise of very dangerous conditions. This situation will be of risks for both the Syrian and Iraqi governments. In this case, they can cross the border back into Iraq whenever they wish and conduct terror operations. So, the Mosul liberation process should advance in a fashion that ISIS fighters will be killed or arrested.