IS leaders 'abandon' Mosul as Iraq forces close in
October 20, 2016 00:47
Jihadist leaders are fleeing Mosul, a top US general in the coalition battling the Islamic State group said on Wednesday as Iraqi forces closed in on the northern city.
Mosul was where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his "caliphate" two years ago but is now the group's last major stronghold in Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who announced the launch of a broad offensive to retake the city on Monday, visited the front line.
In the biggest Iraqi military operation in years, forces have retaken dozens of villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple assaults for Thursday.
"We are telling Daesh (IS) that their leaders are abandoning them. We've seen a movement out of Mosul," said Major General Gary Volesky, who heads the anti-IS coalition's land component.
He told reporters in a video briefing that the many foreigners among the 3,000 to 4,500 IS fighters would likely end up forming the core of the holdout jihadist force.
Volesky noted that the Iraqis would screen anyone leaving Mosul, and attempts by foreign fighters to blend in to an expected exodus of displaced people would be thwarted.
"It's difficult for them to blend into the local population based on the number of different types of foreign fighters that there are," he said.
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