USA: The Islamic State group has lost half of its territory in Iraq

A senior American official said on Wednesday that Iraqi forces, with the help of the US-led military coalition, have regained half of the territory held by the Islamic State group in the country. According to the Associated Press, Antony Blinken, the US Deputy Secretary of State, during his visit to Baghdad, also stated that Washington will provide about $180 million in aid to address humanitarian crises in Iraq. The Islamic State group has suffered heavy defeats in Iraq in recent months but still controls the city of Mosul. The United Nations and the US government predict that as a result of the operations to liberate this city, approximately one million more people will be displaced. Reuters also reports that the advance of Iraqi forces towards Mosul is likely to begin in October. Blinken stated, "ISIS is now retreating and has been severely weakened, and our next urgent action is to complete this operation. Undoubtedly, the recapture of Mosul is the most important goal of Iraqi and American forces." Blinken, who traveled to Baghdad to discuss the design of this operation with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other senior Iraqi officials, mentioned that funding will also be allocated for humanitarian actions, including providing food and other necessities for people who may be affected by the operations. Critics say that in Iraq, humanitarian and relief efforts have not been executed swiftly and in parallel with military operations to reclaim areas controlled by the Islamic State group. With the $181 million donation that the US announced on Wednesday, the total financial aid from that country to Iraq for humanitarian actions since mid-2014, when the US began bombing the positions of the Islamic State group and providing training and advisory assistance to the Iraqi army, has surpassed one billion dollars. Reuters reminds that there is still no precise plan for how to manage the city of Mosul after liberation or the composition and deployment of Iraqi government forces, which may exacerbate sectarian tensions in this ethnically and religiously diverse region. Blinken stated that the so-called Islamic State group has lost half of the areas it seized in 2014. During the sudden and rapid attack of this group in mid-2014, Iraqi army and police forces, despite receiving billions of dollars in military aid from the US in previous years, abandoned their weapons and quickly fled in the face of this group's onslaught. The US Deputy Secretary of State said that the operation to liberate Mosul will not be easy and that the timing of the attack is up to Iraqi officials. Blinken is scheduled to meet and discuss with officials in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in Erbil on Thursday. The armed forces of Iraqi Kurdistan (Peshmerga) are expected to play an active role in the operation to liberate Mosul.