U.S., Iraqi Forces Get Ready For Operation To Reclaim Mosul From ISIS

U.S. and Iraqi forces have started to prepare for an assault by summer to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from its Islamic State occupiers, America's top commander in the Middle East said.

The international campaign against the ISIS has delivered a heavy blow to the group, Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the military's Central Command, told The Wall Street Journal.

Opposition forces have restored control over 300 square miles of territory in Iraq and killed about 6,000 members of the Sunni radical group. Half of the ISIS's leadership has been wiped out, Austin said.

U.S. authorities admit that the Islamic militants still control large parts of northern and western Iraq, but added that Kurdish-controlled areas have been reclaimed. The city of Mosul was taken by the Islamist group in June at the start of its campaign across the country.

U.S. authorities said they do not have a good estimate of the present number of ISIS forces, who were once estimated to be up to 14,000.

The U.S. airstrikes on Wednesday and Thursday cut supply lines between militants holding positions in Mosul and Syria. Eighteen strikes near Mosul and Sinjar were conducted, hitting ISIS troops, the U.S. military said.

By spring or early summer, Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga and U.S.-trained Sunni fighters will be ready to start the offensive to reclaim Mosul, Austin said.

The military official also said that the U.S. must wait for Iraqi forces to be ready before taking action. "If we did things alone or with some of the other allies on the ground, it could move faster," he said. "But the Iraqis have to do this themselves."

U.S. defense officials have been criticized by the Iraqi government for stalling the campaign against the militants.

Austin has yet to decide whether to recommend that U.S. ground troops accompany Iraqi forces into Mosul but said the military will "do what it takes."

He also said that the Islamist group "is beginning to experience a manpower issue" as the latter is trying to recruit child soldiers and force conscription among the people in Mosul.

Kurdish authorities, whose some 5,000-strong Peshmerga fighters were involved in the operation, claimed that at least 200 ISIS fighters were killed, the Washington Post reported. Three of the militants' explosive-packed vehicles were hit by the airstrikes, the report said.

Kurdish forces also do not intend to move beyond areas whose populations are mainly Kurdish, the newspaper wrote, as the operation to secure Mosul is the central government's responsibility.