Disparate allies line up to take Mosul

In this Aug. 10, 2016 photo, Iraqi Army Cpl. Saif holds a phone displaying a screenshot from a video released by the Islamic State group that shows his brother, in Irbil, Iraq.
In this Aug. 10, 2016 photo, Iraqi Army Cpl. Saif holds a phone displaying a screenshot from a video released by the Islamic State group that shows his brother, in Irbil, Iraq.

BAGHDAD -- An unlikely array of forces is converging on the city of Mosul, lining up for a battle on the plains of northern Iraq against the Islamic State extremist group.

The tacit alliance -- Iraqi troops alongside Shiite militiamen, Sunni Arab tribesmen, Kurdish fighters and U.S special forces -- underscores the importance of this battle. Retaking Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, would effectively break the back of the militant group in Iraq.

The battle, expected near the end of the year, threatens to be long and grueling. If Islamic State fighters dig in against an assault, they have hundreds of thousands of residents in the city as potential human shields. And as residents flee, they fuel the humanitarian crisis in Iraq's Kurdish region around Mosul, where camps are already overcrowded with more than 1.6 million people displaced over the past two years. Humanitarian groups are rushing to prepare for potentially 1 million more who could be displaced by a Mosul assault.

Mosul has been vital for the Islamic State. It was the biggest prize captured by the militants after they overran much of northern, western and central Iraq in the summer of 2014. The reserves in its banks provided a cash boost to the group, and the city's infrastructure and resources helped the Islamic State as it set up its caliphate across Iraq and Syria.

Mosul was the location chosen by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to make his first public appearance after declaring the caliphate, a speech delivered at a historic mosque in the old city. For the past two years, much of the leadership seems to have operated from Mosul.

If Mosul were retaken, it would be a nearly complete reversal of the jihadis' 2014 sweep. The group would be left with only a few pockets of territory in Iraq. Islamic State fighters have already responded to battlefield losses by reverting to guerrilla-style tactics or retreating into neighboring Syria to defend the group's territory there, which is also rapidly eroding.

For weeks, the disparate forces have clawed back territory in Nineveh province, where Mosul is located, seizing villages and key supply lines. The Iraqi military's closest position is 30 miles south of Mosul, and there remain dozens of militant-held villages that the troops must take before reaching the city's outskirts. Kurdish forces are closer, some within 10 miles of the city to the north and east.

Iraq's military fell apart when it fled Mosul in the face of the Islamic State blitz two years ago, with a third of its troops melting away. The military also dealt with the revelation that tens of thousands of troops on the rolls did not exist: They were only names whose pay was pocketed by commanders. Since then, the military has been slowly rebuilding, while other armed forces such as Shiite militias and Iraq's Kurdish forces have steadily grown in strength.

The rivalries within the alliance are already starting to show. The Kurds, who seized large swaths of territory during the fight against the militants, want to keep it. Iranian-backed Shiite militias demand recognition for the political and military strength they have garnered during the war. The Sunni minority, which ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein, is deeply worried about Shiite domination and discrimination, and those fears are likely only to grow as the community tries to recover from Islamic State rule and return to their homes.

The Shiite-led government in Baghdad will have to maintain a balance among those factions.

U.S.-led coalition forces are speeding up training for Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters, condensing courses that once took more than two months into just four weeks. In July, the Pentagon announced that 560 more U.S. troops would deploy to Iraq to transform Qayara air base, south of Mosul, into a staging hub for the assault on Mosul.

Still, Iraq's military is thousands of soldiers short of the estimated 30,000 troops needed to launch the assault, and the existing forces are stretched thin trying to hold other recaptured territory, particularly in western Anbar province.

Information for this article was contributed by Balint Szlanko and Salar Salim of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/26/2016

Upcoming Events