WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Iraq’s and Turkey’s conflicting priorities in northern Iraq threaten to disrupt and prolong the military campaign now underway to expel Daesh from the city of Mosul, private intelligence firm Soufan Group said in a report Wednesday.
"A variety of political, security, sectarian and historical concerns have vested Turkey with an enduring interest in the fate of Mosul, often at the expense of Iraq’s central government," the report stated.
About 500 Turkish soldiers in the nearby Iraqi city of Bashiqa want to participate in the assault on Mosul, mainly to protect the city’s Sunni Muslim and Turkmen minorities from retribution by Iraqi Shia militias, Soufan’s report explained.
In the past, Shia militias have posted videos online of its fighters torturing men in Iraqi cities, such as Fallujah, shortly after Daesh fighters were expelled.
The Iraqi government has promised to protect civilians in Mosul from Shia paramilitaries during the anti-Daesh military offensive, which began October 17 and is backed by US-led-coalition airstrikes.
