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A New Iraqi Military, Forged in War
(Jerusalem Post) Seth J. Frantzman - In the battle for Mosul, the Iraqi Army has deployed its best units, including the 9th Armored Division, the Special Operations Forces and the Federal Police, a mechanized infantry unit. Street-by-street they have fought to dislodge what remains of the "caliphate." There are fewer than 1,000 ISIS fighters left, but these are the hard core - many of them foreign fighters, such as Chechen snipers. Iraqi officers say the battle for Mosul is difficult because ISIS cannot retreat here and has to fight to the last man. Lt.-Col. John Hawbaker - commander of a combat team of the 82nd Airborne Division, which is advising and assisting the Iraqi forces - served in Iraq during the surge of 2005-2006. He says, "The Federal Police are extremely professional and disciplined and capable." ISIS provided the existential threat for Baghdad that has led to the creation of an increasingly professional Iraqi army.