BAGHDAD (AP) – Senior U.S. commanders say Iraqi forces are largely set for their next major campaign against Islamic State extremists.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, says he sees the Iraqi assault on the IS-held area of Tal Afar “unfolding relatively soon.”
The upcoming fight follows weeks of Iraq regrouping troops and repairing equipment and weapons after its forces retook the city of Mosul in July.
Townsend says “they’ll be ready enough.”
Tal Afar and the surrounding area is among the last pockets of IS-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city. Tal Afar is west of Mosul and about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of the Syrian border. It sits along a major road that was a key IS supply route.