Iraqi Prime Minister to Pick Defense Minister Only After Mosul Liberated

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi will postpone the nomination of the minister of defense till the liberation of Mosul, according to an Iraqi lawmaker.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi has postponed the selection process of a new defense minister till the city of Mosul is liberated, an Iraqi lawmaker said Monday.

"The prime minister will postpone the nomination of the minister of defense till the liberation of Mosul, as there are a number of names in the list of candidates for this post," Abdel-Rahman Luvisi told the National Iraqi News Agency.

According to him, the members of the parliament have considered several candidates, but the final decision on the person to be nominated for the parliament's vote will be made by Abadi.

Previous Defense Minister Khaled Obeidi was removed by the Iraqi parliament in August due to corruption allegations.

On Monday, the Iraqi military began an operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) militants, a jihadist group outlawed in Russia.

Mosul, the second biggest Iraqi city, as well as a number of other northern and western Iraqi cities and towns was seized by IS in 2014.