While the Kurdish Peshmerga is holding in the North and West of Mosul the Iraqi Army has yet to show itself on that battlefield. However an official from US Central Command said that Iraq will likely start the fight to retake Mosul in April or May this year. The Iraqi Army will have 12 Iraqi brigades, about 20,000 to 25,000 troops. There will also be a special counter-terrorism brigade of about 2,000 men who are training with US Special Operation Forces. The Iraqi Army regular units are still undergoing their training and that appears to be the hold up at the moment. Once the Iraqi forces are ready they will begin the operation to retake Mosul.
Currently three Peshmerga brigades of YPG and YPJ have surrounded Mosul in the north and west and they have liberated at least 12 villages/towns northwest of Mosul. the 12 Brigades will be made up as follows: 5 well trained Iraqi Army brigades for the core fiighting force that would launch the attack, 3 Iraqi Army brigades in reserve, 1 counter terrorism brigade, and the 3 existing Kurdish Peshmerga brigades in the north and west. There ill also be a Mosul fighting force of formet Mosul police and tribal forces who have to be ready to go back to work in the city once the Army Units clear out Daesh.
The U.S. will provide military support for the operation with trainiing, air support, intelligence, and survelliance. No decision has been made if there will be US ground troops to call in air strikes.
It is estimate dthat there is 1,000 to 2,000 ISIL insurgents in Mosul. The main delay in the operation has not only been the training of the Iraqi Army troops but also the plan for the day after ISIS is defeated.
US central command may actually even delay the Mosul operations if they feel that the troops need more training, conditions are not met, or if the equipment is not there and ready.
It was also revealed that Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia will be hosting training sites for Obama's so called moderate rebels in Syria.
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