The U.S.-led coalition has killed 18 Islamic State leaders in Iraq and Syria over the past 30 days, including 13 leaders in and around Mosul.
Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the focus on eliminating Islamic State leadership is an effort to “shape the battlefield” by eliminating key enemy leaders, thereby disrupting and degrading their intelligence, military operations, communication and finance networks.
While the Islamic State quickly replaces leaders who are killed in combat, Dorrian said the fighters who replace the leaders are often not as seasoned, and do not necessarily have the confidence of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“This is especially true around Mosul,” Dorrian said, where “the coalition continues to be relentless in degrading and disrupting command and control of their fighters, softening their grip on the city, and prepping the battlefield for the liberation.”
There is still no timetable for when the Mosul offensive will begin, but Pentagon officials say all the pieces will be in place and preparation complete within weeks.
One of the effects of the persistent coalition airstrikes, Dorrian said, is that it “fixes the enemy in place,” severely limiting their ability move off the battlefield or reposition forces to reinforce Mosul.
“We’ll continue to shape the battlefield around Mosul,” Dorrian said. “That sets conditions where the Iraqis can move at a time of their choosing, and Daesh [the Islamic State] is sort of waiting for that to happen and it’s not really going to go well for them.”
