Iraq anti-ISIL ground offensive 'within weeks': US official

"There will be a major counter offensive on the ground in Iraq," said John Allen, the US coordinator for the so-called US-led coalition against ISIL militants, in an interview with Jordan's official Petra news agency on Sunday.
 
"When the Iraqi forces begin the ground campaign to take back Iraq, the coalition will provide major firepower associated with that," Allen added, emphasizing that the Iraqis would lead the operation.
 
Soldiers of the Iraqi army have been engaged in heavy fighting with the militants on different fronts and have so far been able to push back them in several areas.
 
The US started airstrikes against what they say are ISIL targets in Iraq in August last year. A US-led coalition also began its military campaign in Syria in September 2014.
 
Allen’s remarks followed those by a US official who told CNN on Saturday that the United States may deploy ground troops to Iraq where the country’s forces are planning for operations against the ISIL-held city of Mosul as soon as April.
 
The military was yet busy gathering intelligence about ISIL defenses in Mosul to make sure such recommendations were necessary, the US Central Command official said.
 
The official noted that as soon as April the Iraqi forces would make their first move against the militants in the city, some 400 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad.
 
The crisis in Iraq escalated after the ISIL militants took control of Mosul in a lightning advance on June 10, 2014.
 
The ISIL terrorists have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their in Iraq and Syria. They have terrorized and killed people of all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.