Pictures of the Iraqi soldiers celebrating their defeat of Isis in Mosul marked a milestone in the fight against the Islamist group but it was also a victory for Barack Obama's strategy in the region, a senior Pentagon official has said. While the Iraqi armed forces staged an exhausting nine-month siege around the city of Mosul, the US-led air campaign in Iraq and Syria initiated by the former president appears to have proved successful in weakening Isis forces. The US and its allies, including but not limited to the UK, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey, also provided continual training and advised proxy local forces without sending their own troops into action.



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