'Mosul victory wouldn’t have been achieved without Peshmerga'

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Ambassador to the US Farid Yassin on Thursday reaffirmed that the support of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to Iraqi troops was critical to the victory over the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul.

After decades of fighting against the Iraqi army throughout history, Peshmerga forces for the first time fought alongside Iraqi troops in the battle to defeat the jihadist group in Mosul. The move was labeled a “historical” moment by both Iraqi and Kurdish officials.

“All the Global Coalition against Daesh's country-members participating in the conference applauded the great achievement of all Iraqi forces in the liberation of Mosul,” Yassin told Kurdistan 24 in Washington DC, using the pejorative Arabic term for IS.

When asked about the role of the Peshmerga forces, he said that they were "an essential part of the campaign” to defeat the jihadist group, stating the Mosul liberation would have never happened without their assistance.

“This great victory [Mosul liberation] would not have happened without the cooperation of all Iraqi military forces, including the Peshmerga, who paid the ultimate price with thousands of fighters being wounded and martyred,” the Ambassador said.

The Mosul operation began in October 2016. The Iraqi forces launched the attack on the eastern front of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq occupied by IS in June 2014, using the Kurdistan Region border.

Peshmerga forces broke the defense line of the jihadist group from the east, opening a corridor for Iraqi troops to attack IS, senior Kurdish officials stated. Peshmerga did not enter the center of the city.

In mid-2014, the Iraqi army collapsed and failed to push back IS in Mosul, and left heavy military equipment in the hands of the jihadist group.

“Peshmerga forces destroyed the myth of IS,” the President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani had previously asserted.

Since the emergence of IS in 2014, over 1,700 Peshmerga soldiers have fallen while fighting the group, and 11,000 more wounded, according to the Peshmerga Ministry.

The Mosul operation, which lasted nine months, has been labeled the largest military campaign since the removal of the Iraqi dictatorship in 2003.

On July 10, 2017, the Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi officially announced the full liberation of Mosul from IS.

Editing by G.H. Renaud