Iraqi Commander: US, Turkey Pressuring Baghdad to Postpone Liberation Plans in Tal Afar

“The US and Turkey are exerting much political pressure on Baghdad to prevent the capture of the strategic city of Tal Afar in Western Mosul,” Nazzem al-Assadi told FNA.

Stressing that the Iraqi army’s operations to retake Tal Afar will start soon in cooperation with Hashd al-Shaabi despite all obstacles, he said, “The volunteer forces are prepared for the battle and are ready to start operations after besieging the city from several directions.”

His remarks came after a spokesperson for Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said the number of ISIL militants currently fighting in Western Mosul stands at 2,000 members, higher than the 1000 estimated by the US-led coalition.

The PMF’s spokesperson, Ahmed al-Assadi, said Tuesday that 70 percent of ISIL militants in Western Mosul were Iraqi nationals.

“Numbers mentioned by US officials, about the numbers of terrorist ISIL members being nearly 1,000, are related to only Western Mosul,” Assadi said.

“What is left of the Western side does not exceed 30 percent of the city’s territory, so the number of militants does not exceed 1,000, and they are trapped in that space,” he added.

According to Assadi, the number of ISIL members at the group’s so-called “al-Jazeera State”, reaches more than 3,000 fighters, and there are 2,000 others in “Nineveh State”.

ISIL’s Al-Jazeera State comprises towns and regions West of Mosul and near the borders with Syria like Ba’aj, Tal Afar and Mahalabiya, while Nineveh State primarily includes Mosul.

“Those terrorists, though shrinking in numbers, are still holding between 200,000 and 300,000 civilians.

Mosul fell to ISIL militants in 2014 and the group’s ringleader declared a self-proclaimed caliphate in these parts of Iraq, as well as in neighboring Syria.

Iraqi government troops launched an offensive in October to retake the city, managing to recapture the Eastern region in January and launching an offensive in February to retake the West.