CRI听力:Iraq's Outgoing PM Vows to Retake Mosul

Outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is vowing to retake the country's second largest city Mosul.

Al-Maliki made the pledge while visiting an airforce base in the city of Tikrit, which was recently recaptured by government forces from Islamic State militants.

"What happened to Iraq is a disastrous relapse, but we can be proud that we have absorbed this relapse with strength."

The comment comes amid military gains by security forces with the aid of US air strikes targeting the Islamic insurgents in northern Iraq.

In Syria, Islamic State militants have stormed an air base in the northeast, capturing it from government forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 346 Islamic State fighters were killed and more than 170 members of government forces died in the fight over Tabqa base.

That base was the Syrian army's last foothold in an area otherwise controlled by the Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.

According to witnesses, IS fighters displayed the severed heads of Syrian army soldiers in the city square.

U.S. officials have said that the IS can not be crushed without dealing with it in Syria.

But the officials admitted that persistent intelligence gaps may constraint a possible U.S. offensive.

Li Shaoxian, the deputy director of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, says it is just a matter of time before U.S. launches an offensive.

"An offensive on IS fighters will be inevitable if the U.S. wants to take out the group. IS is headquartered in Syria. But the U.S. has to settle at least three problems before any action. The first is the lack of intelligence. The situation in Syria is very complicated. The offensive will not work without accurate information. The other is the relationship with the Syrian government. The third is to find a proper ground force to coordinate with U.S. drones. "

For more on this, CRI's Paul James spoke earlier with Professor Greg Barton, Director International of the Global Terrorism Research Centre at Monash University in Australia.

Back Anchor:

That is Professor Greg Barton, Director International of the Global Terrorism Research Centre at Monash University, speaking with CRI's Paul James.