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WASHINGTON The top U.S. commander in Iraq on Wednesday downplayed the chances that the United States would deploy a large number of additional coalition forces to battle Islamic State, even as President Donald Trump weighs options to speed the campaign.

Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend also appeared to deliver a robust defense of Kurdish fighters that have been America's strongest allies on the ground in Syria and signaled some role for them in an upcoming offensive for the city of Raqqa, even though Turkey has expressed concerns that they pose a threat.

Townsend declined to openly discuss his recommendations for accelerating the fight against Islamic State but his comments represent one of the strongest signals yet that the U.S. military will not advocate any fundamental shift in a key strategy that relies on local ground forces.

The United States now fields less than 6,000 troops in both Iraq and Syria, a far cry from a peak of about 170,000 to Iraq under President George W. Bush.

"I don't foresee us bringing in large numbers of coalition troops, mainly because what we're doing is, in fact, working," Townsend told a Pentagon news briefing, speaking via video conference from Baghdad.

"But in that event that we bring in any additional troops, we'll work that with our local partners, both here in Iraq and Syria, to make sure that they understand the reasons why we're doing that and to get their buy-in of that."

Trump has made defeating Islamic State - which has claimed responsibility for attacks on American soil, in Europe and elsewhere - one of the key themes of his presidency, and his administration received a draft Pentagon plan on Monday to accelerate the campaign.

Details of that plan have not been disclosed, but Townsend said he still believed that fighting "by, with and through our local partners" was succeeding.

"That is still the right way to go. It is working and our local partners are fully invested, they are leading the fight," he said.

YPG ROLE IN RAQQA

Trump's push against Islamic State in Syria could soon present him with an unenviable choice of potentially alienating NATO ally Turkey by relying on the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which in addition to Arabs includes Kurdish YPG fighters who Turkey considers a threat.

Turkey is strongly opposed to YPG involvement in the operation to liberate Raqqa, not only because it sees the force as an extension of the PKK militant group, but also because it says Raqqa is an Arab-dominated city.

Townsend, however, stressed they would have some role in the campaign.

"There are going to be Kurds assaulting Raqqa for sure. The number, the size of them, and how many Kurdish units are participating in that, I can't really say right now," he said.

Townsend also delivered a robust defense of the YPG fighters who receive U.S. support, saying he had seen no evidence linking them to attacks on Turkey from Northern Syria in the past two years.

"I've talked to their leaders and we've watched them operate and they continually reassure us that they have no desire to attack Turkey, that they are not a threat to Turkey, in fact that they desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey," Townsend said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Nick Tattersall; Editing by James Dalgleish)

KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia on Wednesday charged two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese, with murdering the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader in a bizarre airport assassination using a super-toxic nerve agent that killed in minutes.

MOSUL, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi army units on Wednesday took control of the last major road out of western Mosul that had been in Islamic State's hands, trapping the militants in a shrinking area within the city, a general and residents said.

GENEVASyrian government aircraft deliberately bombed and strafed a humanitarian convoy, killing 14 aid workers and halting relief operations, U.N. investigators said on Wednesday in a report identifying war crimes committed by both sides in Syria's war.

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US commander downplays chance of big Iraq, Syria troop hike - Reuters

ISIS is losing more and more territory in Syria and Iraq, but what about its holdings elsewhere in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia? As ISIS continues to be squeezed by Iraqi, Syrian, and Turkish forces, it may look to these regions as places to regroup or form a kind of backup caliphate. We should also expect it to continue changing its tactics as it tries to survive.

The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq is continuing to push ISIS out of Mosul, Iraqs second largest city, after moving into eastern Mosul last month. Last week, Iraqi forces took over the Mosul airport and began to move into the western half of the city, where they have already retaken one neighborhood. Although western Mosul is expected to pose more of a challenge, Iraqi officials predict the battle for Mosul will be over by the summer.

As ISIS territorial control weakens in Iraq, the Iraqi air force launched airstrikes across the border for the first time last Friday, a sign of its resolve to destroy the group. Meanwhile, ISIS is losing control of its stronghold in northern Syria as it faces losses on multiple fronts. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels routed the Islamic State from the strategic city of al-Bab, while over the weekend, Syrian forces took neighboring territories held by ISIS.

These victories have come with setbacks, of course. Although Iraqi officials declared eastern Mosul liberated last month, ISIS sleeper cells have continued to launch attacks there and the group is using increasingly sophisticated drones to drop grenades on civilians and aid workers. Residents also report that neighborhoods that were supposedly cleared still contain many ISIS sympathizers. In response to losing al-Bab, ISIS retaliated with car bombs late last week that killed more than 60 people. ISIS is also engaging guerrilla warfare. In February, ISIS detonated a car bomb in the Shiite suburb of Sadr city outside Baghdad that killed at least 48 people.

ISIS set up shop in Egypts Sinai Peninsula in late 2014, under the moniker ISIS-Sinai Province, or just Sinai Province. In October 2015, the group bombed a Russian airliner on its way to the resort town Sharm-el-Sheikh, killing all 224 on board. Sinai Province is violently opposed to the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who banned the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood after coming into office.

Sinai Province is allied with Hamas, a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, working together on smuggling tunnels running from Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. This has led to an unusual level of cooperation between the Egyptian government and Israel. In return for choking Hamas tunnel access to Egypt, the Israelis have been helping the Egyptian military fight Islamic State on the Sinai Peninsula. ISIS has launched several rocket attacks into Israel, including twice last month.

Last week, Islamic State released a video instructing its followers in the Sinai Peninsula to target Coptic Christians. Several Copts have been killed in the last ten days, causing 118 Coptic families to flee the region since last Thursday. In December, an ISIS suicide bomber targeted a Coptic cathedral in Cairo, killing 25.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are experiencing increasing problems with ISIS as the group has worked to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. The ISIS affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-KP, claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Sufi shrine last month in Pakistan that killed 88 people, as well as a similar bombing in November that killed 50.

ISIS-KP emerged in Pakistan and Afghanistan in early 2015. Its leadership is comprised mainly of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) and Afghan Taliban defectors. Their base is in Afghanistan, although the porous border between the two countries allows militants to pass easily back and forth. Pakistan has accused Afghan officials of refusing to take action against the group and has taken punitive actions like closing border crossings that are key to trade between the two countries. Although long reluctant to admit ISIS presence in Pakistan, officials finally acknowledged in September that the group poses a serious threat to the country.

ISIS has been trying to establish a caliphate in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, but according to the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, the group has lost control of several districts in that province over the past year. However, ISIS still poses a significant security threat as it continues to attack the military and Shiite communities. Last month alone, ISIS killed 17 Afghan soldiers, gunned down six Red Cross aid workers, and launched a suicide bomb outside of Afghanistans Supreme Court that killed at least 20 people. The United Nations reported that civilian casualties from ISIS attacks increased by a factor of ten from 2015 to 2016 in Afghanistan.

When ISIS emerged in 2014, it took advantage of the failed Libyan state to gain a foothold along its coast. Remember that after Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and murdered, the country descended into a violent civil war. ISIS stronghold was in Sirte, although it also held territory in Benghazi, Tobruk, and several other areas. It was on a Libyan beach that ISIS beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians in a graphic propaganda video.

After a seven-month-long campaign, which included U.S. airstrikes, ISIS was driven from Sirte. However, ISIS is still considered a threat. The group is thought to be regrouping in the desert, forming underground cells throughout the country, and continuing to attack the Libyan military and plotting attacks in Europe. In January, U.S. planes bombed two ISIS training camps, killing 80.

Much like in Libya, ISIS has taken advantage of the ongoing civil war in Yemen to insert itself and gain territory. The group continues to launch multiple suicide bombings and attack Yemeni military forces. ISIS is not as powerful nor does it hold as much territory as al-Qaeda does. However, as ISIS loses ground in Syria and Iraq, there is increasing concern that militants will join its affiliate in Yemen.

ISIS first emerged in Somalia in 2015 as a small group that broke away from al-Shabaab, the Islamist group loyal to al-Qaeda. Last fall, ISIS in Yemen briefly seized a town along the coast and last month attacked a hotel in the Puntland region. While their presence in Somalia is believed to be small and much inferior to that of al-Shabaab, Somalia is a de facto failed state and would be a relatively easy place for militants in Syria and Iraq to flee to and regroup.

As ISIS continues to face territorial losses in Iraq and Syria, we should expect to see more drone attacks and suicide bombings in these two countries, much like al-Qaedas guerilla warfare tactics. We may also see ISIS look toward its holdings, both large and small, from Africa to Southeast Asia, as a way to reorganize and begin their project anew.

To defeat ISIS in these countries, or prevent their small presence from metastasizing, each country will need to have the resolve and the resources to pursue them aggressively. Quasi-failed states and countries bogged down in violent civil wars will struggle to do this. The United States must promote stability in these countries if we want to see ISIS influence and violence to come to an end.

Countries where ISIS has gained a foothold will also need to be open to coordination across the border. This will prove difficult for some, like Pakistan and Afghanistan, who have ongoing border disputes and are deeply distrustful of one another.

ISIS is a global problem and will require a global solution. This means stability, determination, and cooperation. It may also necessitate leadership from a major world power. But in todays climate of populist nationalism, Western countries may be reluctant to come forward. Unfortunately, that leaves Russia and Iran to fill the voidunless and until the United States decides to take up its discarded mantle of leadership.

Excerpt from:
ISIS Is Retreating In Syria And Iraq, But It's Nowhere Near Over - The Federalist

Elizabeth Creasy: From Darwin to Iraq, a firsthand experience with the Australian soldiers committing to helping in the battle against ISIS.

Elizabeth Creasyis spending four days embedded with Task Group Taji in Iraq. The combined Australian-New Zealand military training group is assisting Iraqi soldiers and police officers in the fight against ISIS.

It's pitch black and freezing cold as we step off the C130.

There's a bone-chilling wind blowing across the Tarmac as myself, my cameraman Paul Collins and Newscorp veterans Charles Miranda and Gary Ramage are ushered off the runway.

Barely a word is said as we're bundled into vehicles driven by US marines who take us into a remote military base. I have no idea where I am.

Patrolling the base at the Taji Military Complex northwest of Baghdad at sunrise. (Supplied)

All I know is I'm somewhere in Iraq. I'm pretty sure I've gone into shock. I'm trying to tell myself I haven't walked into a booby trap.

There are no lights on as we drive through the first check point in convoy, all I can see is the outline of huge concrete walls that tower above.

We drive further into the base, and are taken into a tent. Inside it's warm and full of uniform-clad soldiers.

The only person I recognise is Sharon - the public affairs officer. I've met her once before at Robertson Barracks in Darwin. I'll soon discover she's a little pocket rocket, armed with a steyr and a browning. An Essex girl with a heart of gold.

I finally accept I haven't been kidnapped by ISIS and this is where my media embed is starting.

A marine I can barely understand tells me where I am, but I still have no clue where I am.

"Any questions?" he asks. I don't bother.

Sharon takes me to our room. I sleep surprisingly well.

The media taking part in embed training and members of Task Group Taji. (9NEWS)

The next day I finally get my bearings. I'm at Camp Manion (Al Taqqadum Air Base). A US military base just 10 kilometres from Fallujah. I feel a bit sick.

"It's safe here, don't even worry," one soldier tells me. I try to believe him.

My concerns subside a little when I meet my "Force Pro". Armed with two guns, these are the guys assigned to protect the media. I stick close by.

When the Iraqis arrive for training it's like nothing I've ever seen before. A conga-line of armoured vehicles twisting and turning through the desert until they get to the training area. About 30 of them pile out, cigarettes lit, uniforms stylishly tailored. Some could be male models.

The "Force Pro" guys warn me the Iraqis will want selfies. They're not wrong. As soon as one asks for a picture with me, dozens more crowd around, lining up one after another, iPhones outstretched, I feel like a superstar.

The Australian "Force Pro" men. (9NEWS)

They motion for me to remove my sunglasses and helmet. I take off my glasses but I don't really want to remove the helmet. I laugh to myself at my sudden modesty.

Aside from the selfies these guys are here for very serious reasons. This division has fought ISIS before, driving them out of their hometowns of Fallujah and Ramadi. They have the battle scars to prove it.

One sergeant I speak to has been shot twice and survived. He says the training he's getting from the Aussies will help him protect his people - Sunnis, Shiahs, Christians, it doesn't matter.

His words give me goosebumps.

An Iraqi soldier. Task Group Taji aims to build the capacity of the regular Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). (9NEWS)

After an intense one-on-one shooting exercise with he Taji Taskgroup guys, the Iraqis leave the firing range. The armoured vehicles head off into the distance.

Flags flying, Iraqi soldiers hanging out of windows, sitting on roofs. My sergeant friend stands on the bonnet, rifle held up proudly above his head.

It's a sight I won't forget.

Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2017

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Elizabeth Creasy: Meeting the Australians behind the fight against ISIS in Iraq - 9news.com.au

1 Mar 2017, 9:55 p.m.

A newly declassified report obtained by Fairfax Media reveals the real reason behind Australia's involvement in the 2003 Iraq War.

On the night of April 12, 2003, Australia's military commander in the Middle East, Brigadier Maurie McNarn, was woken by a phone call telling him that an RAAF Hercules would soon fly into Baghdad airport to deliver medical supplies for the Iraqi capital's looted hospitals.

The caller was his boss, then Chief of the Defence Force General Peter Cosgrove. Nevertheless, McNarn protested, saying the airport was not secure and there was no safe way to distribute the supplies to 40 hospitals across the crumbling capital. Cosgrove, now Sir Peter, the nation's Governor-General, told him to make it happen. It was being announced to the press in 30 minutes.

Operation Baghdad Assist went ahead and became a media triumph for then prime minister John Howard and Sir Peter amid a deeply unpopular war. The Hercules, carrying three journalists and 13 commandos to provide protection, was the first Australian plane to land in Baghdad after the invasion a month earlier.

But the medical supplies never made it out of the airport. They rotted. A second planeload was diverted to the city of Nasiriyah, whose hospitals were already relatively well stocked. McNarn would go on to dismiss the whole thing as a "photo opportunity". Special forces commander Lieutenant-Colonel Rick Burr, who learned of the operation on CNN, was equally upset, writing in his diary that the operation made "a mockery of our approach".

It's one of many startling revelations in a 572-page, declassified internal report on the Iraq War obtained by Fairfax Media under freedom of information. Written between 2008 and 2011 by Dr Albert Palazzo from Defence's Directorate of Army Research and Analysis, it is by far the most comprehensive assessment of our involvement in the war. Originally classified "Secret", it was finally released last week after more than 500 redactions.

The story Iraq: The inside story first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Iraq: The inside story - Barossa & Light Herald

Lt. Gen. Raid Shakir Jaudat said the militants were increasingly cut off from each other and that their leaders were fleeing the remaining pockets of militant control.

"The terrorist organization Daesh (is) living in a state of shock, confusion and defeat, and its fighters are fighting in isolated groups," Jaudat said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

"Our field intelligence units indicate that the terrorist organization is falling apart, and its leadership (is) running away from Mosul."

Iraqi forces retook the eastern part of Mosul from ISIS a month ago, completing a key phase in the effort to retake Iraq's second-largest city from the terror group. Jaudat said government artillery was targeting remaining "terrorist dens" in the western half of the city.

He said his forces were combing the al-Ghazalani, al-Jawasq and al-Tayaran neighborhoods in search of fighters, improvised explosive devices and booby traps.

As the battle to seize western Mosul rages on, Iraqi militants and government troops pounded an ISIS meeting about 70 kilometers (43 miles) away, killing and injuring dozens, said the media office for the Popular Mobilization Unit, or PMU.

The PMU is an umbrella group of militant organizations working with government forces to free ISIS-held areas of Nineveh province, including Mosul, the provincial capital.

Two artillery strikes, planned in conjunction with an Iraqi army brigade, killed or injured more than 70 gathered ISIS fighters, the PMU media office said.

But the fight against ISIS has taken a humanitarian toll.

About 14,000 people have fled western Mosul since Iraqi forces started their operation there February 19, said Jassem Mohammad al-Jaff, Iraq's minister of displacement and migration.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said food and water have been distributed to those fleeing ISIS-held areas.

But the UN office said civilians in many neighborhoods of southern and western Mosul have no access to drinking water.

It added that as many as 75 civilians have been treated as trauma casualties since the campaign began.

But the number of internally displaced people inside Iraq has been reduced to 2.7 million from 4.3 million, Jaff said.

He said 1.6 million people have returned to their towns, cities and villages.

On Monday, the army reported it has recaptured a bridge across the Tigris River in west Mosul, where fierce battles are ongoing to oust ISIS.

While all five bridges linking the government-held eastern Mosul to the western part have been destroyed, the takeover of the fourth bridge will allow Iraqi forces to lay a ramp over the broken part and open a supply route from the east.

The battle to take back west Mosul, where about 750,000 people are believed to be living, has proved to be challenging. The narrow, densely populated streets there make the impact of heavy weaponry deadly and indiscriminate, and access to aid difficult.

CNN's Kareem Khadder reported from Irbil, while Euan McKirdy wrote from Hong Kong and Hamdi Alkhshali from Atlanta. CNN's Holly Yan contributed to this report.

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Iraqi commander: ISIS leaders 'running away' from Mosul - CNN