DefenceTalkThe United States is using Apache helicopters in the battle to retake Iraq’s second city of Mosul after more than two years of Islamic State group rule, the Pentagon said. The US military, backing the ground campaign by Iraqi forces, is directing the attack helicopters against explosives-packed vehicles the jihadist group is employing for suicide […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-using-apache-helicopters-in-the-battle-for-mosul-68553/

DefenceTalkUS forces conceded Saturday that its air strikes “very likely” resulted in civilian casualties in Afghanistan’s volatile Kunduz province, pledging a full investigation into the incident which triggered angry protests. The strikes early Thursday killed at least 30 people, many of them children, after a Taliban assault left two American soldiers and three Afghan special […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-forces-say-airstrikes-very-likely-caused-afghan-casualties-68543/

DefenceTalkIraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday warned Turkey against provoking a confrontation while saying he does not want war, after Ankara deployed tanks and artillery near the border. Turkey has insisted that it will play a role in the battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group, but Baghdad has rejected this assertion […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-pm-warns-turkey-as-ankara-deploys-troops-68532/

DefenceTalkCentral African Republic: The Central African Republic’s capital was rocked by deadly overnight clashes as France’s defense minister was due Monday to formally end a military operation there, hailing it as a “success.” Local sources said about 10 people had been killed in a settling of scores between armed groups Sunday night in Bangui’s restive […]https://www.defencetalk.com/deadly-clashes-in-car-as-france-ends-military-mission-68526/

DefenceTalkAir strikes that hit a school in rebel-held Idlib province in northwest Syria killed 22 children and six teachers, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Wednesday. “This is a tragedy. It is an outrage. And if deliberate, it is a war crime,” said UNICEF director Anthony Lake. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “warplanes […]https://www.defencetalk.com/22-children-killed-in-air-raid-on-syria-school-unicef-68501/

DefenceTalkThe contributions of coalition partners in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are invaluable, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today at the opening of the counter-ISIL small group defense ministerial at Hexagone Balard, the new French defense ministry building in Paris. The secretary, in prepared remarks, said the coalition defense […]https://www.defencetalk.com/noose-tightening-around-isil-in-mosul-carter-says-68493/

DefenceTalkPakistan on Wednesday conveyed to the United States that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) are patronising terrorists groups to attack soft targets in the country. National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua conveyed the message to US ambassador David Hale in a meeting today, said […]https://www.defencetalk.com/raw-nds-patronizing-terror-groups-in-afghanistan-pak-national-security-adviser-tells-us-envoy-68490/

DefenceTalkRussia warned the US-led coalition Wednesday against driving jihadists from Iraq to Syria, in the offensive to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group. “It is necessary not to drive terrorists from one country to the other but to destroy them on the spot,” the chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-tells-us-led-coalition-not-to-drive-terrorists-from-iraq-to-syria-68448/

DefenceTalkThe Mosul offensive is a critical test for the Pentagon’s strategy against the Islamic State group, which relies on local forces and keeping as many Americans as possible away from combat. After IS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in early 2014, the United States formed a coalition that launched an air campaign to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/battle-for-mosul-a-key-test-for-us-military-strategy-68408/

DefenceTalkIraqi forces have launched operations to retake Mosul, a city whose capture by the Islamic State group two years ago left the country on the brink of collapse, the prime minister said Monday. The northern city was where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014. With […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-forces-launch-operations-to-liberate-mosul-from-is-68402/