US, Kurdish Commanders Expect Drawn-out, Costly Battle for Mosul

Islamic State leaders accept they will lose control of the city of Mosul but are planning to defend their last major urban stronghold in Iraq tenaciously, U.S. and Kurdish officials say, in much the same way they fought last year at Ramadi, leaving that town in ruins after months of seesaw, close-quarters fighting. Heavily outnumbered on the battlefield, IS is using light weapons, suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices and commando-style attacks to try to slow coalition forces...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - samedi 22 octobre 2016