The campaign to oust ISIS from the Iraqi city of Mosul is “on track,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Monday. Between Sunday and Monday, Iraqi security forces had cleared a village southeast of Mosul, Ali Rash, and Peshmerga troops had taken two more villages north of the city, Cook said. Some Iraqi forces reported being less than a kilometer from the city itself. “While distance is not the best measure of the fight ahead and the coalition is prepared for difficult fighting ahead,” Cook said, “there is no question that counter-ISIL forces continue to to have the momentum in this fight.” Coalition forces had delivered 118 munitions through air and artillery strikes in the prior 24 hours and employed a total of nearly 2,900 munitions since Iraqi forces launched the battle to retake Mosul from ISIS control on Oct. 17. ISIS, he said, continues to use civilians as human shields. (See also: Iraqi Approach to Mosul Moving Faster than Expected.)
The first A-10 "Warthog" departed Warfield Air National Guard Base, Md., last week, the first step in a process that could leave Maryland Air Guard the only one among the 50 states without a flying mission. Negotiations to acquire a follow-on flying mission have stalled.