Iraq, US in talks to keep troop presence after IS

"We want to maintain that partnership with Afghanistan and we want to ensure that Afghanistan reaches its potential, so that's the objective of the strategy", Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Theresa Whelan told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday.

Islamic State's defeat in Mosul will not mean the end of the hardline Sunni group which remains in control of parts of Syria and vast swathes of Iraqi territory near the Syrian border.

A USA soldier stands guard near the site of a US bombing during an operation against ISIS militants in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, on April 15.

Members of the Iraqi Federal Police stand guard during clashes with Islamic State fighters at a frontline in western Mosul, Iraq May 2, 2017. "At some point, you know, the city will be very hard for enemy fighters or leaders to leave".

Mothers carrying babies, men in wheelchairs, and families of up to 15 people have been paying 1,000 Iraqi dinars (Dh3) per head to make the short journey to the relative safety of eastern Mosul, which was declared liberated from ISIL in January.

Iraqi federal police are now a few hundred meters away from the al-Nuri mosque, the same symbolic location where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a public appearance in 2014.

At least one major regional player, Tehran, is skeptical about the need for the American forces in Iraq.

In April, Trump gave the Pentagon authority to independently set troops levels in Iraq and Syria.

"I know that the Iraqi security forces are confident of their ability to finish the enemy in place in Mosul very soon", he said.

The May 3 offensive started in the northwestern side of Mosul.

But getting to the mosque has proven to be troublesome for security forces. Now they aim to free western Mosul, where around 2,000 jihadis are said to have entrenched themselves.

The Iraqi military said on Saturday the Musherfa district had been fully retaken, but officers told Reuters on Sunday there was still fighting there and smoke could be seen rising over the area by a Reuters reporter in east Mosul. Holding the position will be crucial to Iraqi efforts to retake the rest of the Mosul.

They were also shooting civilians trying to flee and firing mortars and rockets randomly at residential areas. U.S. soldiers are also participating in the battle.

There already have been undeclared inscreases in the number of United States troops deployed to Iraq, with 300 to 500 new soldiers posted to Anbar and Nineveh provinces, Iraqi offocials have told The New Arab. He is on his way to a relatively safe camp in the southern part of the city.