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ISIS Hotbed Looms as Risk in Mosul Fight

Iraqi forces closing in on Islamic State-held Mosul are bypassing pockets controlled by militants such as the strategic town of Hawija, leaving the extremists free to launch counterattacks elsewhere in Iraq. In planning the Mosul offensive, Iraqi leaders chose to make retaking Hawija a lower priority even though it sits between Baghdad, the capital, and […]

Ben Kesling and Ghassan Adnan write for The Wall Street Journal:

Iraqi forces closing in on Islamic State-held Mosul are bypassing pockets controlled by militants such as the strategic town of Hawija, leaving the extremists free to launch counterattacks elsewhere in Iraq.

In planning the Mosul offensive, Iraqi leaders chose to make retaking Hawija a lower priority even though it sits between Baghdad, the capital, and Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.

But just days into the Mosul offensive, Islamic State mounted a massive coordinated attack on oil-rich Kirkuk, which is about 100 miles southeast of Mosul and 35 miles east of Hawija. It took three days to quell the attack on Kirkuk, which is the closest major city to Hawija, creating new urgency in the region to retake the militant bastion.