France, the first country to join US-led air strikes in Iraq, stepped-up its offensive against the Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq. French warplanes took off from the country’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, as an Iraqi government-led offensive is preparing to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Islamic State’s most prominent stronghold city. The Charles de Gaulle’s Rear Admiral Olivier Lebas said defeating the Islamic State was the final objective of the US-led coalition, noting that retaking the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa would complete the coalition’s objectives.
“Daesh (Islamic State) is retreating everywhere on the field. Daesh has already lost big towns – such as Ramadi, Falluja, Manbij, most recently, and the fall of Daesh is the final objective, which is what will happen by retaking Mosul and also by retaking Raqqa. Preparing for the Mosul battle is today clearly a priority of the coalition. But our planes continue to be engaged everywhere on the field today. With Mosul, it is important for us to carry out the combat everywhere on the territory, everywhere where Daesh is, in Syria as well as in Iraq,” stated Lebas.
The United States at the end of September increased the number of troops it has in Iraq to more than 5,000 as part of a US-led coalition providing air support, training and advice to the Iraqi military, which collapsed in 2014 in the face of Islamic State’s territorial gains and advance toward the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces, including Kurdish Peshmerga forces and mostly Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias, have retaken around half of that territory over the past two years. Mosul, the largest city under the extreme Muslim group’s control anywhere across its self-proclaimed caliphate, is likely to be the biggest battle yet.