Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga units, backed by US and Iraqi air cover, have launched an assault to recapture the city of Mosul. But ISIS, which appears to have appointed an Oil Minister, is adopting more and more of the trappings of the ‘Islamic State’ it claims to be.
Iraq’s second city of Mosul fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) in June. The counter-offensive, which has been partially successful in freeing some land from ISIS control north of Mosul, has also targeted the all-important Mosul Dam, a strategic prize that ISIS also captured. But pitched battles are still reported in and around the Baiji refinery, as ISIS remains fixed on capturing strategic infrastructure with which to sustain its newly declared Islamic State. (CONTINUED - 1900 WORDS)
