DefenceTalkRussia warned the US-led coalition Wednesday against driving jihadists from Iraq to Syria, in the offensive to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group. “It is necessary not to drive terrorists from one country to the other but to destroy them on the spot,” the chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-tells-us-led-coalition-not-to-drive-terrorists-from-iraq-to-syria-68448/

DefenceTalkRussian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with the leaders of Turkey and Iraq about battle for Mosul, where Iraqi forces are fighting to oust the Islamic State group, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Putin “wished the Iraqi army and its allies complete success in their objectives,” the Kremlin said in a statement on his conversations […]https://www.defencetalk.com/putin-in-talks-on-mosul-with-turkish-iraqi-leaders-kremlin-68432/

DefenceTalkThe Mosul offensive is a critical test for the Pentagon’s strategy against the Islamic State group, which relies on local forces and keeping as many Americans as possible away from combat. After IS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in early 2014, the United States formed a coalition that launched an air campaign to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/battle-for-mosul-a-key-test-for-us-military-strategy-68408/

DefenceTalkIraqi forces have launched operations to retake Mosul, a city whose capture by the Islamic State group two years ago left the country on the brink of collapse, the prime minister said Monday. The northern city was where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014. With […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-forces-launch-operations-to-liberate-mosul-from-is-68402/

DefenceTalkUS Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Sunday that operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group were key to defeating the jihadist group. “This is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat,” Carter said in a statement. “We are confident our Iraqi partners will […]https://www.defencetalk.com/mosul-offensive-a-decisive-moment-in-anti-is-campaign-us-defense-secretary-68392/

DefenceTalkFrench fighter jets took off from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on Friday for an operation against the Islamic State group in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, an officer said. Eight jets took off from the carrier in the eastern Mediterranean, an AFP photographer on the flight deck reported. The Charles de Gaulle is […]https://www.defencetalk.com/french-fighter-jets-on-mission-against-isis-in-mosul-68263/

DefenceTalkThe United States will send about 600 extra troops to Iraq to train local forces for an offensive on the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday. IS seized Mosul along with other areas in June 2014, but the country’s forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-send-600-more-troops-to-iraq-for-mosul-offensive-68245/

DefenceTalkSyria’s Aleppo faced worsening food and medical shortages and warplanes again pounded the city as Russia condemned what it called “unacceptable” Western rhetoric after allegations of war crimes. A fresh wave of intense air strikes battered Aleppo’s opposition-controlled east, said an AFP correspondent in the city facing its worst violence in years. During an emergency […]https://www.defencetalk.com/aleppo-battered-as-russia-slams-unacceptable-rhetoric-68222/

DefenceTalkUS Apache helicopters have struck an Islamic State target for the first time in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday. The sophisticated attack choppers destroyed an IS car bomb Sunday near Qayyarah, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Mosul, the group’s main stronghold in Iraq. “The government of Iraq approved the use of […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-apache-helicopters-strike-isis-for-first-time-in-iraq-67634/

DefenceTalkTwo US troops were wounded over the weekend in separate Islamic State attacks in Iraq and Syria, Pentagon officials said. The casualty in Syria marks the first time an American soldier has been injured in that country since military advisors deployed there at the end of last year. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/two-us-troops-injured-in-iraq-syria-during-is-attacks-67565/