The Battle for Mosul has started

[jomni]

betting this all lasts 6-8 months, until someone else gets slightly mo' betta' organized and counter-attacks

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/middleeast/mosul-isis-operation-iraq/index.html

Interesting to see a mixture of US and Russian equipment on the same side.

[Sir Slash]

Will this be Stalingrad-South? I hope not, but the Dead-Enders will stick around for the 72 Virgins-thing while the Honchos have probably already scattered. Hope that after the Bosses aren't looking anymore, the peons will all decide they're not quite ready for martyrdom and surrender. Then the next question is, "Who gets Mosul and all that oil"? And what happens when we reach the Syrian border? Cross it or let ISIS have a safe base to fight from?

[Barthheart]

[Staggerwing]

betting this all lasts 6-8 months, until someone else gets slightly mo' betta' organized and counter-attacks

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/middleeast/mosul-isis-operation-iraq/index.html

It will be interesting to compare the effectiveness and will of each of the 'Allied' ground players: Peshmerga, Militias, and Iraqi Regular Army.

[Martok]

It will be interesting to compare the effectiveness and will of each of the 'Allied' ground players: Peshmerga, Militias, and Iraqi Regular Army.

I'm pretty sure you've just ranked/listed them in the correct order... 

[jomni]

http://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/isis-leaders-abandon-mosul-as-iraq-forces-close-in#xtor=CS1-10

So the leaders are said to be fleeing.  And with civilians fleeing, the fighters can blend in the crowd and form sleeper cells.  Except the foreigners they say. 

[Gusington]

Peshmerga for the win.

[Staggerwing]

It will be interesting to compare the effectiveness and will of each of the 'Allied' ground players: Peshmerga, Militias, and Iraqi Regular Army.

I'm pretty sure you've just ranked/listed them in the correct order... 

Subconscious bias?

[Gusington]

"The is no Dana only Mosul." I hope someone wrote that on an artillery shell.

[Sir Slash]

How about 'Sul' on the first arty shell and then 'Mo' "Sul" on all the others? 

[Gusington]

Ha that works

[Boggit]

Peshmerga for the win.

Hope so, but Turkey has said it wants to be involved.

If they do without the Iraqi government say so, then that is an act of war. It hasn't bothered them in Syria, but I wonder whether they will cross the border to get a stake on Mosul simply by being there. If that happens then things get VERY complicated, especially as Putin and Erdogan are now new BFF's. ???

[Staggerwing]

Peshmerga for the win.

Hope so, but Turkey has said it wants to be involved.

If they do without the Iraqi government say so, then that is an act of war. It hasn't bothered them in Syria, but I wonder whether they will cross the border to get a stake on Mosul simply by being there. If that happens then things get VERY complicated, especially as Putin and Erdogan are now new BFF's. ???

Turkey is already in Iraq, against the legitimate Iraqi gov's wishes. It has that 'Training camp' just north of Mosul (15 miles or so?) that it can buff up and leapfrog from anytime it wants. Turkey also has it's own Sunni militia it's supporting there as well which is already in direct conflict against IS elements. When the Peshmerga moved in on the villages north of Mosul they had to carefully avoid the estimated ZOC of the Turks and friends up there.

[JasonPratt]

Someone should AGEOD this regional conflict (along the line of Revolution Under Siege with all the various faction players). It would be forty levels of cray.

[Gusington]

^Wait for the regional/global war DLC to be unveiled first. Featuring 21st century naval combat between the US and Russia in the Mediterranean.