Even after ISIS is defeated, there seems no end in sight to
the fighting, with dozens of rival factions struggling for power
and territory.
The battle for Mosul is expected to be difficult, involving
street-to-street fighting with the 3,000-4,500 IS jihadists the
coalition has estimated are in the area.
ISIS is faced with an array of forces: the US-led coalition,
Iraqi soldiers, police and mainly Shiite Muslim Hashed al-Shaabi
forces, and Kurdish peshmerga fighters. This coalition of myriad
rival Iraqi forces will have to fight through ISIS defences to
reach the city.
The operation will be supported by the US-led coalition, while
Iranian forces will work with some Shiite militia groups, and
Turkey also has troops at a base near Mosul which it has declined
to remove despite Baghdad's demands that it do so.
The issue of the role of the Hashed al-Shaabi militia forces is
a contentious one, and Sunni politicians oppose their entry into
Sunni Arab Mosul.
There is also the contentious issue of post-Mosul territorial
control, with Iraqi Kurdistan wanting to maintain control of areas
that are claimed by both it and the federal government in
Baghdad.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/retaking-iraqs-mosul-complex-offensive-015048762.html
