Will U.S. Special Forces And Kurdish Peshmerga Lead The Fight Into Mosul?

Soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition are seen with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in a village east of Mosul, Iraq, May 29, 2016. Azad Lashkari/Reuters

Florain Neuhof, Daily Beast: Elite U.S. Soldiers and Kurdish Troops Moving on ISIS Near Mosul

With help from U.S. forces, the Kurdish offensive against ISIS in Iraq continues to make gains. But how far will the Kurds go? And with what consequences?

MUFTI, Iraq — The pickup trucks on their way to this village in northern Iraq on Sunday kicked up the dry earth on the dirt track, clouding the air and limiting the visibility for the drivers approaching the hamlet just wrested from the so-called Islamic State with the help of elite American soldiers operating now in both Iraq and Syria.

Engines roared as the cars accelerated to avoid getting stuck in the loose earth, drowning out the drone of coalition warplanes circling above in the gradually building offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, conquered by ISIS two years ago.

Then, without warning, a sharp explosion tore through the air, and a column of smoke billowed upwards. The fighters milling around a school building at the edge of the village barely took note—this was one of nine suicide attacks the Kurds had to fend off during the day’s fighting. Previous engagements had set the arid fields on fire, and pillars of smoke reached for the sky all around Mufti.

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WNU editor: The liberation of Mosul will be an Iraqi affair .... but to get there they will need support, and it looks like the Kurds have a high price attached to that support.