The recapture of Mosul from ISIS forces should be complete “in a maximum of three weeks,” the Iraqi army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanmi said Sunday, according to Reuters citing an Iraqi state-run newspaper. Beginning in October of 2016, a US-led coalition has been supporting Iraqi forces in an effort to retake the city from ISIS, which captured Mosul in 2014 and made it a stronghold. In late January, Iraqi forces announced the liberation of the eastern half of the city, but fighting in the western Old City has been slow-going because ISIS has deeply entrenched positions there and has been using civilians as shields. An estimated 400,000 civilians remain in the city, even as nearly that many have already been displaced by the battle to retake Mosul, according to Reuters.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.