US envoy: Caign to retake Mosul from Daesh imminent

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Brett McGurk Washington’s special envoy for a U.S.-led international anti-Daesh coalition has called on the international community to support Iraq in advance of a planned campaign to retake the northern city of Mosul from the terrorist group.

Speaking at a Saturday press conference in Baghdad McGurk said the operation to retake the city was imminent stressing that the planned campaign had been "well planned".

He went on to note that U.S. ground forces would participate in the planned operation at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi.

Regarding recent anti-government protests in Iraq McGurk stressed that Iraqi citizens had the right to stage peaceful protests adding that the U.S. supported a raft of reforms unveiled last year by al-Abadi.

Iraq has been dogged by a vicious security vacuum since mid-2014 when Daesh overran Mosul -- the country’s second largest city -- and declared a self-styled "caliphate" in parts of Iraq and Syria.

By Haydar Hadi