YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Baghdad Saturday for meetings with Iraqi leaders including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, amid a major push to drive Islamic State out of the northern city of Mosul, the WSJ reports.

Mr. Carter was expected to meet with Mr. Abadi and receive briefings on the Iraqi military campaign in Mosul, which began less than a week ago. Iraqi forces, with American troops serving in advisory roles, have encircled the city and chased Islamic State militants out of a number of surrounding villages.

U.S. defense officials have heralded the initial phase of the campaign, more than a year in the making, as a success. But as the fight draws further into the city, the perils for Iraqi forces as well as the Americans advising them heighten considerably.

Mosul is Islamic State’s last major stronghold in Iraq; the only other major city the group holds is Raqqa, its de facto capital in northern Syria.

“I don’t expect this to be an exclusively rosy report every single day,” a senior defense official said earlier this week before Mr. Carter’s departure from Washington. “We’re expecting tough moments, as we’ve seen in a number of other places in the counter-ISIL campaign,” he added, referring to the extremist group by a different name.

In addition to the military operations in Mosul, Mr. Carter and Mr. Abadi will discuss “day-after” efforts, in which governance, stabilization, humanitarian and security issues will be critical for the city, Iraq’s second largest.

Mr. Carter is also seeking to smooth over a diplomatic and military rift between Iraq and Turkey over the latter’s role in the Mosul campaign. Turkey has trained up to 3,000 Sunni Arab fighters at Bashiqa camp on the northern outskirts of Mosul without the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government’s approval. As Mosul isn’t far from Turkey’s own borders, it is angling to contribute something in the campaign.

On Friday in Ankara, Mr. Carter seemed to secure a tentative agreement that ensured Turkey would play a role in the Mosul campaign, although it isn’t yet clear if it would be a military role, in the form of Turkish airstrikes, nonlethal assistance or a combination of both. The U.S. has tried to facilitate the agreement and Mr. Carter’s stop in Baghdad is expected to firm up commitments on both sides.