U.S. EXPECTS 'OVERLAP' IN MOSUL, RAQQA BATTLES AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE
The United States expects the campaigns against Islamic State in Mosul and Raqqa to overlap, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Tuesday, signaling that a push to start isolating the group's de facto capital in Syria may not be very far off. Iraqi forces are already nine days into their U.S.-backed campaign to take the city of Mosul from Islamic State, fighting their way toward the city's outer limits in what could become the biggest military operation in Iraq in over a decade. The campaign itself could last weeks or even months, allowing some leeway in timing.