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A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds a a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as he takes up position in an area overlooking Baretle village (background), which is controlled by the Islamic State, in Khazir, on the edge of Mosul September 8, 2014. The Kurdish fighters are firing from an area they had retaken from the Islamic State, on Bashiqah mountain. September 8, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Not only did the announcement of the U.S. Central Command regarding Mosul irked Iraq's defence minister because it not only revealed plans of an offensive, but also that it is not for the United States to decide when exactly to hold such attacks.

On Thursday, the Pentagon divulged plans to retake Iraq’s second largest city from the hands of the extremists ISIS. It will have 20,000 to 25,000 troops from the Iraqi and Kurdish military forces who are currently undergoing U.S. training. U.S. officials said the attack will start sometime April or May.

Khaled al-Obeidi, Iraq's defence minister, blasted the U.S. for divulging sensitive information. Although Obeidi did not deny the possibility of such attacks versus the radical ISIS elements, he finds it illogical for the military to reveal to its enemies plans of an offensive. He said that while the offensive will happen, they have to consider a lot of elements into the frame.

"This is urban warfare and we have civilian populations. It is very important to take time and accuracy in setting the plan for this battle," he told a news conference in Baghdad. He also stressed it is not up to the U.S. to decide when to hold action. "The battle for Mosul starts when preparations are complete, and selecting the time is up to Iraqi military commanders."

It wasn’t only Obeidi who’s irked over the announcement. Even Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney. Mostly everyone found the disclosure unusual because it aids more the enemy than guarantee the success of the mission. According to the Pentagon, the offensive to retake Mosul will involve five Iraqi army brigades, three Iraqi army reserve brigades, three Peshmerga brigades, and two additional forces. "I don't know where the American official got this information... They absolutely do not have knowledge on this issue," Obeidi said.

The Pentagon did admit that some 2,000 of those forces have yet to be trained. On that basis, a U.S. official said it is impossible the offensive will happen that early. “I really doubt it is going to happen that soon. If it does, it will take months,” the unidentified military officer who served in Iraq between 2003-2011 told The Daily Beast.

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, a researcher at the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, told The National the possibility of the offensive taking place much later could be true because while plans for an offensive have been discussed, the plotters haven’t discussed where they will get the people to complete their forces. “It’s all about the composition of this force. 25,000 Iraqi soldiers, where are they going to come from? Are any Shiite militiamen going to be involved?” That 25,000 soldiers will come from Iraq versus the 2,000 from ISIS sounds good. But the U.S. might be forgetting the country's sectarian divisions. Mosul has an entirely Sunni population. The Iraqi military meantime gets most of its recruits from the Shia majority. An officer who had served in the restive Sunni province of Anbar during the Iraq War told The Daily Beast that he finds it impossible for the Shiites to fight for Mosul. “I cannot believe that.”

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