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Washington (CNN)While the Pentagon emphasizes Iraqi forces are leading the charge into Mosul, it is clear US troops will be heavily involved in the efforts to wrest the city back from ISIS.
“Americans are in harm’s way as part of this fight,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook acknowledged Monday, though he added, “There are specific steps that have been taken, and protocols in place, for us to try and reduce the risk to Americans because this is Iraqis in the lead.”
A day after the assault on Iraq’s second-largest city began, US forces are visibly providing a supporting role to the local troops. Approximately 100 to 200 US Special Operations Forces in northern Iraq are working as advisers to Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga units.
Following a later offensive that dislodged ISIS from Ramadi, Iraqi forces also took back the key cities of Fallujah, Baiji and others on the march closer to Mosul — ISIS’ largest remaining Iraqi stronghold and home to over a million people.
But even if ISIS loses its grip on Mosul, analysts who follow the situation say there likely will not be many celebrations in the immediate aftermath.
“There is a lot of fighting left to do,” said retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN military analyst. “ISIS will still be present, and it will take a generation to get rid of these ideologues.”
And Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of US forces in Iraq and Syria, also signaled Monday that what lay ahead for Iraqi forces in Mosul would not be easy.
“This may prove to be a long, a tough battle, but the Iraqis have prepared for it and we will stand by them,” he said.
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