Azzaman, May 3, 2008

The government is massing troops for an imminent attack on the northern city of Mosul, the interior minister said.

The minister Jawad al-Bolani said the government has deployed "elite units" in the city, home to nearly three million people and currently one of the most violent places in the country.

U.S. troops will assist with aerial bombardment, logistics and artillery. U.S. marines will intervene if necessary.

The battle to overtake Mosul is billed as the 'last’ major offensive Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intends to launch to bring the country under control.

Mosul is now a bastion of al-Qaeda whose fighters have been under extreme pressure from the so-called Sahwa (Awakening) Council, a newly formed militia of Sunni tribesmen financed by the U.S., in other Sunni-dominated areas.

Bolani said the troops sent to calm down Basra were being redeployed in Mosul.

Analysts say the battle for Mosul is expected to be one of the bloodiest since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Mosul is a mixed city. Though predominantly Sunni Arab, it holds sizeable communities of Kurds, Christians, Shebeks and Yezidis.

"The battles in Basra are over. The armed forces and police have completed their preparedness for the battle of Mosul. The Qaeda gangs and criminals face dark future there," the minister warned.

He predicted the attack to be swift with minimum damage and casualties.

But the analysts expected a long and difficult 'street-to-street and house-to-house’ fight as the city is almost completely under the Qaeda and other forces resisting U.S. occupation.