Fight against Islamic State group will grow harder after Mosul: Canadian general
WASHINGTON — A Canadian general who directs training of Iraqi security forces says the widely anticipated ousting of the Islamic State group from its stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq is likely to transform the extremist group into an even more dangerous force.
Brig. Gen. Dave Anderson, speaking from a U.S.-led coalition military facility in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday he is certain the Iraqis will prevail in Mosul.
“But the fall of Mosul does not mean that Daesh is defeated by any stretch of the imagination,” Anderson said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group, or ISIL. “It just means it’s defeated in its current format.”
Anderson said he is confident that in defeating ISIL in Mosul, the militants will be stripped of their capacity to conduct conventional military operations. Then, however, the group’s remaining fighters are likely to melt into the civilian population and morph into an insurgency.