IT HAS BEEN SIX MONTHS SINCE THE IRAQI ARMY CAMPAIGN TO RETAKE MOSUL BEGAN

Vastly outnumbered, outgunned and hit by withering American airstrikes, ISIS still controls much of Mosul

Last October, with much fanfare, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that his army had started a campaign to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS. “The victory bell has rung,” he declared.

Its clapper must have cracked that victory bell because most of Mosul is still in the hands of ISIS. Although vastly outnumbered and outgunned, and hit by withering American and coalition forces airstrikes, ISIS has managed to hold on.

U.S. military intelligence officials estimate that by February there were at most 2,000 ISIS fighters left in Mosul. And according to Iraq News, the desperate Jihadists have deployed the notorious al-Khansaa women’s combat unit to defend western Mosul.

The U.S. has spent billions of dollars to train, equip and rebuild the Iraqi armed forces. There are 30,000 American ‘advisers’ on the ground to assist the Iraqis. American troops have been engaged in combat by providing the Iraqi army with artillery support. There are daily devastating airstrikes on ISIS targets in Mosul by American and coalition warplanes and drones. And yet, after almost six months, the Iraqis and coalition forces have been unable to dislodge ISIS from Mosul.

President Trump has promised to destroy ISIS, but how long will that take if it takes more than six months to defeat a vastly outnumbered and outgunned force in one city? And how many U.S. dollars and American lives will it take to finally destroy ISIS?