Falluja: Amid of the victory over Falluja. The city of Mosul is seen as the next battle for Iraqi forces. The northern city has been under IS control since 2014 and the Iraqi army launched an operation in March aiming to retake it.
In January 2014 IS seized control of Falluja. The government launched an operation to retake it in May.
At least 1,800 militants were killed in the operation, the Iraqi army said.
The representatives from more than 30 countries met in Washington to discuss plans to inflict what Mr Carter called a “lasting defeat” on IS.
The US defence secretary Ashton Carter said. “Let me be clear: They culminate in the collapse of Isil’s control over the cities of Mosul and Raqqa.”
The meeting also focused on stabilisation plans for areas under IS control when they were eventually liberated.
Mr. Carter added. “We must ensure that our partners on the ground have what they need to win the fight and then hold, rebuild, and govern their territory.”
UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said.”Britain will double to 500 its deployment of troops to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting IS.”
United Nations envoy Jan Kubis describes as “the biggest, most sensitive humanitarian crisis in the world”. If Mosul is taken back this year.
Hundreds of thousands of other civilians in Iraq are fleeing the other way escaping with their lives from the clutches of IS, but they are entering another kind of hell.
The world’s aid community is already struggling to help care for almost 3.4 million people left homeless by earlier battles. This year, the UN’s annual appeal is less than 40% funded.
“There’s donor fatigue,” says a frustrated UN official in Baghdad. “It’s almost as if the world wants the Iraqi problem to go away, and they’re embarrassed it’s still here.”