Michael Yon is embedded in Ninevah Province, Iraq, where al-Qaeda has retreated and dug in. His report will be up soon, but here’s one of the many bottom lines:
Combat is likely to heat up in Mosul and western Nineveh by about May. There likely will be some reports of increased US and Iraqi casualties up here, but this does not mean that we are losing ground or that al Qaeda is resurging – though clearly they are trying. If there is an increase in casualties here as we go into the summer of 2008, it is because our people and the Iraqi forces are closing in. We have seen just how deadly al Qaeda can be at the last steps. This enemy is desperate. They know they are losing. They are not likely to go out easy.
Don’t miss it; you’ll find it here.