Pentagon confirms ISIS tried to attack USA troops with mustard agent

Once the push is launched, a coalition of heterogeneous forces will have to fight through ISIL defences, in some cases over distances of dozens of kilometres from their current positions, to reach the city.

If the proposal is approved, it is anticipated that would be the final wave of additional USA forces for fighting ISIS, since Mosul remains the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq, the official added.

American troops who investigated the shell went through decontamination showers as a precaution.

Several hundred USA troops are using the base as a staging area for supporting Iraqi forces.

We call on the global community to maintain further their support for the sheltering and return of IDPs, especially, with the forthcoming battle to fully liberate Nineveh and the anticipated increase of displaced persons, he said.

President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi put the Islamic State group on notice Monday that they plan to recapture Mosul within months.

A top U.S. military commander has confirmed that a shell fired at a U.S. military base in Iraq contained a chemical agent.

On Tuesday, the chemical-laden shell landed at a military facility in northern Iraq where US military advisers are helping their Iraqi counterparts prepare for an upcoming offensive to retake Mosul, the last major stronghold held by the Islamic State in Iraq, notes USA Today.

The deployment would assist Iraqi security forces preparing for the offensive to capture the country’s second largest city, which is expected to begin as early as mid-October, officials told the Wall Street Journal.

“New UK support will put in place critical stocks and supplies for basic life support such as food, shelter, sanitation facilities, and protection assistance ahead of Mosul military operations”, said Britain’s global development secretary, Priti Patel, in a statement.

The rocket attack comes after the U.S-led coalition recently bombed a building believed to be a chemical weapons making facility near Mosul. The additional troops have been tasked with training and equipping Sunni Arab allies.

Observers have repeatedly alleged IS has used chemical weapons, and the Pentagon has confirmed the jihadists have deployed chlorine and sulfur mustard devices.

“We’ve had a number of strikes … over the past year against [Islamic State’s] emerging chemical capability”, the four-star general said Thursday.

Hawija, east of Shirqat, is the other remaining Islamic State bastion south of Mosul.