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For the moment, the Iraqi army, Kurdish peshmerga forces, Shia militias and Sunni tribal units are all united in fighting ISIS. But even in Sulaimani, an Iraqi-Kurdish city close to the border with Iran that is one of the most stable corners of a very unstable Middle East, there is considerable worry about what comes next. As a senior Iraqi government official put it to me: "This is the $64,000 question."

Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, is where almost three years ago ISIS declared its self-styled caliphate.

This month Iraqi forces seized Mosul's main government building and central bank from ISIS militants and they are now closing in on the historic Al Nuri mosque where ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, first declared himself to be caliph, an astonishing claim asserting that Baghdadi was not only the leader of ISIS, but also the leader of all Muslims around the world.

Baghdadi's caliphate has proven relatively short-lived. ISIS has lost more than half of the territory that it once held in Iraq. Iraqi soldiers liberated eastern Mosul weeks ago and they are now working their way through western Mosul, on the other side of the Tigris River, which bisects the city.

The final push to dislodge ISIS from Mosul is a tough fight. Western Mosul is the historic heart of one of the oldest cities in the world. Its narrow streets and alleyways are impassable for armored vehicles. Most of the ISIS fighters who remain in Mosul are willing to fight to the death and ISIS has deployed a large number of suicide bombers and even armed drones to disrupt the Iraqi military advance. Already ISIS has launched a furious counter attack to reclaim the main government building in Mosul.

Several hundred thousand civilians are hunkered down in their homes in western Mosul, with half of them at risk of being displaced by the fighting, according to Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. Grande told a conference in Sulaimani earlier this month, "We cannot rule out the risk of a prolonged siege" in western Mosul.

But after the sobering task of driving ISIS from Mosul is completed, an even more challenging question remains: Can Iraq remain in one piece?

On Monday Iraqi Prime Minster Haider al-Abadi met with President Donald Trump in Washington DC. That meeting came ahead of a conference in Washington later this week of the 68 countries that make up the anti-ISIS coalition. What comes after the defeat of ISIS in Iraq will surely be a key part of the discussions among the coalition.

In a country that has endured a brutal civil war at the height of which a decade ago 100 civilians were dying every day, there is understandable fear among Iraqis that once ISIS is largely defeated, the anti-ISIS alliance that includes Kurdish peshmerga forces, Shia militias and Sunni tribal units and which has held together Iraq's fractious ethnicities and sects will dissolve.

In order to avoid conflict between these various forces inside Mosul, a political agreement was hammered out before the Mosul operation began in October that allowed only the Iraqi army into the city and excluded the various Kurdish, Shia and Sunni militias that are also fighting ISIS. It is the elite special forces of Iraq's Counter Terrorism Service and, in particular, its Golden Division, that is doing the bulk of the fighting inside the city.

The United States is supporting the Iraqi military with a mix of Special Operations Forces, intelligence and close air support. That last category includes armed drones, manned aircraft and Apache helicopters.

But what comes after ISIS loses Mosul? Or to invoke General David Petraeus' famous question at the beginning of Iraq War in 2003: "Tell me how this ends?" Nearly a decade and half later, Petraeus' question is still a very good one, as there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the future of Iraq.

On the plus side of the ledger, the largely Shia government of Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi is, by Iraqi standards, a relatively stable government and Abadi himself is a moderate Shia politician, unlike his highly sectarian predecessor, Nouri al Maliki.

Balanced against that, a senior Iraqi government official told me, when Mosul falls, "There will be plenty of revenge killings outside of the media lens," adding that, "the government will not intervene." The official said that reconstruction of the heavily damaged city "will take a while" and reconciliation between the six ethnicities and sects that inhabit Mosul is going "to be tough." That's because in some cases half of a particular tribe was for ISIS and the other half was against it.

Also for many Kurds the success of the Kurdish peshmerga on the battlefield is more than a matter of ethnic pride. It may lead to the creation of "facts on the ground" that argue for the creation of the long-cherished dream of a Kurdish state.

At the same time Sunnis, who make up the majority of Mosul's population, are leery of the Shia militias and the Shia-dominated Iraqi government, and if their interests are marginalized as they have been repeatedly in years past, they will throw their support -- or at least their acquiescence -- to any Sunni militia group that seems to be fighting for their interests, just as some did with ISIS and before that its parent group, Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Add to these factors the understanding that the fall of Mosul will do nothing, of course, to end the continuing civil war in neighboring Syria, which is where ISIS first made significant battlefield gains. What remains of ISIS's Iraqi branch after the fall of Mosul will likely regroup in Syria.

All of these factors are likely to cause continuing instability in much of Iraq.

Fortunately, Trump's new executive order to temporarily ban the travel from six Muslim-majority countries to the United States no longer includes Iraq, as the first version of the travel ban did. This will make Monday's visit between Abadi and Trump a much warmer one than if the Iraq travel ban were still on the table. This made Monday's visit between Abadi and Trump a much warmer one than if the Iraq travel ban were still on the table.

The arbitrary nature of the Iraqi travel ban was underlined by the fact that Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati, who is the most important leader in the anti-ISIS fight since he heads the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service, could not get a visa to visit his own family members in the United States.

Now that Abadi has met Trump, he should invite him to visit Iraq and see a city such as Sulaimani which is, by regional standards, a safe and well-ordered city of smooth highways and modern apartment blocks ringed by snow-capped mountains that feels a lot freer and more open than much of the rest of the Middle East.

At the American University in Sulaimani, female students wear a wide range of garb, from simple headscarves to tight-fitting dresses paired with high heels. At the annual Suli Forum that was held at the American University this month, students didn't hesitate to pepper Lt. Gen. Shaghati, with pointed questions about the use of force against civilians, a level of free speech that is almost entirely absent in the rest of the region.

A little exposure to a city like Sulaimani will help Trump understand that the Middle East is a much more complex place than he seems to believe. Perhaps Trump could even give a speech at the American University in Sulaimani, just as President Obama did at Cairo University early in his first term. In the speech, Trump could celebrate the open society and free market that exists in Kurdistan and which are, of course, not only American values, but also the values of free peoples all over the world.

This article has been updated to reflect President Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Abadi.

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Will Iraq survive victory over ISIS in Mosul? - CNN

Iraq Says US Pledges to Speed Support in Fight Against Islamic State Wall Street Journal (subscription) WASHINGTONThe U.S. pledged Monday to speed up its support to Iraq in the fight against Islamic State, Iraq's prime minister said following a White House meeting with President Donald Trump. We have been given assurances that the support will not ...

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Iraq Says US Pledges to Speed Support in Fight Against Islamic State - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Fire and heavy smoke coming from the town of Qayyarah, which is located in the Mosul district in northern Iraq, after the offensive retake of Mosul in 2016. Photo by: Mstyslav Chernov/ CC BY-SA

ERBIL, Iraq Even as Iraqi government officials denythat chemical weapons have been used in Northern Iraq, local health authorities and partners, including the World Health Organizationand the International Committee of the Red Cross, are working to improve preparation for any future incidents.

Their strategy aims to improve referral pathways in the short term, boost regional capacity to handle cases going forward, and build readiness into the long-term reconstruction of local health facilities, including in the city of Mosul, where the most recent probable chemical cases came from.

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said allegations of chemical weapons use in Mosul were mistaken. According to our information, [the Islamic State] doesnt have the ability to use [chemical weapons], and we understand [the incident reported was caused by] an explosion of smoke and gas, not chemical weapons, he told the audience at the American University of Iraq in Sulaymaniyah.

Devex previously spokewith the victims of one apparent chemical incident, as well as their doctors from the ICRC, who said they suspected mustard gas exposure. Lab tests are still in process to confirm the agent.

Mosul chemical attack exposes an ill-prepared health system

The first victims of an apparent chemical attack in the campaign to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State recount their story to Devex, revealing a public health system ill-prepared to receive and treat future cases. Government officials, NGOs and agencies are now urgently pivoting to reorganize protocol.

On the ground, however, organizations and local health authorities engaged in chemical weapons treatment and prevention are not waiting. They believe the symptomatic evidence from recent incidents, together with a regional history of chemical weapons use, is significant enough to warrant building improved capacity. These groups are working quickly throughout Iraq and particularly around Mosul, where a military campaign is ongoing to wrest Iraqs second-largest city from ISIS control.

WHO has a risk assessment and thats based on what we have seen in the region historically, more recently, and also on the basis of events that weve seen in the past 12 to 18 months, Catherine Smallwood, technical officer in the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told Devex from Erbil, where she is on mission. There has been authoritative confirmation of blister agent used in Northern Iraq by the [U.N.s Organization for the Prevention of the use of Chemical Weapons], so of course with that, events that have been reported, and the signs and symptoms that were seeing blister agents such as mustard gas are clearly one of the high-risk chemicals for us.

Immediately, that has meant re-examining how patients are delivered from the frontlines to the health facilities where they are eventually treated. The patients who spoke to Devex last week described a lengthy process of moving between health facilities and then check points to eventually arrive in Erbil, a city more than 50 miles away.

Distances traveled by the cases do increase complications, from secondary contamination risks all the way to delays in crossing between governorate boundaries and the complications that can come with it, Smallwood told Devex.

Future cases from Mosul will now be referred to Al-Shikhan General Hospital, a facility roughly 25 miles northeast of the city. The WHO has worked for the past 10 months to build capacity in the facility, as well as four others throughout Iraq.

The WHO also last week began training health workers even closer to the frontlines. The organization trained 10 health care workers (including medical doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers) from central Mosul, Altaf Musani, WHO representative and head of mission in Iraq, told Devex by email.

The training focused on how health care workers can decide whether a patient has been exposed to chemicals, how to protect themselves and others from secondary contamination, how to prepare for and conduct emergency decontamination, and how to triage cases and identify the class of exposure (ie. the type of chemical to which a patient has been exposed). They were provided materials to ensure they are both trained and equipped to respond safely and appropriately. WHO has now trained over 200 health care workers and first responders in this area across five governorates in Iraq.

In the longer term, the WHO and other partners hope to build chemical response preparedness into the reconstruction plan for local health facilities. The organization is working closely with local authorities to boost preparedness.

Weve had real engagement from the departments of health, Smallwood said. Its not WHO pushing the health authorities to do this, theyre taking action on their own.

Eastern Mosul, for example, is now largely under government control and clinics have begun to reopen for services. As the health facilities are becoming more accessible, as functionality is starting to come back to those facilities, well be able to increase capacity, Smallwood said.

Future training sessionswill vary depending on the capabilities the WHO and other partners find in local facilities, and initial assessments will ask exactly this question. Building capacity to respond to chemical weapons use is highly technical and varies widely based on what equipment and personnel are available.

Decontamination processes ideally take place with health care staff using personal protective equipment a set of sealed gear that protects health workers from secondary exposure. Putting the suits on and off is a complicated process that requires significant training and practice.

Public awareness is also vital to limiting the damage from chemical exposure. The WHO has crafted five key messages and plans to distribute them within Mosul and other high-risk areas.

Musani told Devex: WHO will continue to work with health facilities in and around Mosul over the coming days to provide further direct support to them as they increase their capacities to manage these types of events.

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Inside the mounting preparations for chemical attacks in Iraq | Devex - Devex

Social media is abuzz with U.S. military veterans posting their photos and memories of the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom, when U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003.

Camp Pendletons 1st Marine Division was part of the drive from Kuwait up into Iraq, and the San Diego cruiser Bunker Hill was one of the U.S. warships that fired Tomahawk missiles toward the Iraqi capital.

The Navy posted a video of the Bunker Hill unloading its Tomahawks that day.

The war began with airstrikes before dawn on March 20, 2003. By the time the U.S. military pulled out of Iraq in December 2011, nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 120,000 Iraqis had lost their lives.

A military region, San Diego shared in the pain: 68 service members who hailed from San Diego died in combat -- most of them during the first half of the conflict.

Another 389 of the dead were stationed here, most at Camp Pendleton, according to a U-T analysis of data from the Pentagons Statistical Information Analysis Division.

Fourteen years later, some veterans are sounding off with pride that they served.

Veterans are remembering friends they served with. We will never forget, said the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in a Tweet.

Joe Plenzler, a former Camp Pendleton Marine who is now a spokesman for the American Legion, posted a photo of himself with now-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in Iraq. Mattis was in command of Pendletons 1st Marine Division at the time.

Others commented on the wars utility and cost.

Others noted that U.S. troops are still in Iraq.

A few thousand American troops are in an advise and assist role, trying to help Iraqi forces defeat the jihadist group known as the Islamic State, or ISIS.

That behind-the-scenes effort still has been deadly for U.S. forces.

As one person on Twitter noted, Temecula resident Louis Cardin, a Marine Corps staff sergeant, was killed in northern Iraq just one day short of the invasion anniversary last year.

Were you there, 14 years ago today? Post your memories in the comments below, or on the @sdut Facebook page.

What do you remember most about that day?

Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day

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Post your memories: On this day, Iraq war started 14 years ago - The San Diego Union-Tribune

JOE GIDDENS/PA

Iraqi forces are pushing to retake the west of Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, which was captured by the extremist group in 2014 and is their last major stronghold in the country.

Speaking through an interpreter at a Kurdish Zerevani forces camp in Bneswela, near Erbil, Brigadier General Yunis Mohamed Rashed said his troops have no mercy for ISIS fighters.

"Daesh is a very powerful terrorist organisation, they don't have humanity... they are monsters," he said.

"I have never seen such a thing as blowing themselves up, or cutting people's head off or cutting people's hand off.

"That is why we don't give them any mercy while we fight them, because against us they use everything - a lot of horrible things."

Alongside the threat of suicide bombers, he said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) left behind and disguised by the extremist group are also an issue.

"There is a lot of villages we have been controlling after Daesh left," he said.

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An Iraqi special forces soldier checks men for explosive belts as they cross from Islamic State controlled part of Mosul to Iraqi forces controlled part of Mosul

[In one] we were searching and found a lot of buildings that were booby trapped - like a blanket on the ground, once you step on it, boom, it goes off."

Daesh is a very powerful terrorist organisation, they don't have humanity... they are monsters

Brigadier General Yunis Mohamed Rashed

He said that if his forces have a week with little fighting, "they know that Daesh are attacking", but that they have "faith" and "believe" they will win the war.

"Daesh is very weak right now, especially in Iraq," he said. "When Daesh was near to us it created a lot of threat."

With the Iraqi army controlling the east of Mosul and "soon the West", he added: "The threat is far away."

JOE GIDDENS/ PA

"We always put in mind that they might be stronger at any time or weaker at any time," he said after a passing-out parade at the end of a British-run course in how to detect and defuse devices.

He said his forces have learnt a lot from training by coalition forces, including the British, and they are "very thankful for their service".

Sergeant Tariq Aziz Mohammed, from the Zerevani first company, was injured last year by an IED hidden in a tunnel while fighting IS.

Talking during a training session at a half-finished housing development called Tiger Town, he said he remembered a "boom" and next thing he woke up in hospital.

He sustained a broken back and concussion and now finds he struggles mentally, often having to sit alone in a calm place.

JOE GIDDENS/ PA

Speaking through an interpreter he said: "This training makes you more aware... we have experience and have been soldiers before... but this kind of training teaches you how to protect yourself properly."

He thanked British forces for their "hard work and hard efforts" in training.

He praised medical training for treating injuries on the front line, and said building-to-building operational skills they have learned are also "important".

He added: "A lot of Peshmerga have been Peshmerga for 25 years, but they don't know all the skills and drills they have to do. Now we have learnt it.

"The IED training is amazing for us, and we extremely need the training about the IEDs on how to protect ourselves and how to defuse it.

"That is the most important thing, I think, for the Peshmerga."

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Islamic State weak in Iraq, says Peshmerga general - Express.co.uk