article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Do you remember the talk about plans for Iraqi-led force to try to take back Mosul this spring?
article_snippet.sent: Mosul has long been the big prize in the Iraqi government's fight -- aided by a U.S.-led military coalition, which has carried out airstrikes for months -- to defeat ISIS.
article_snippet.sent: It has also long been a source of embarrassment, considering how It fell after Iraqi troops dropped Iraqi troops weapons, abandoned Iraqi troops posts and ran for Iraqi troops lives when militants arrived last June.
article_snippet.sent: The senior administration officials who talked to reporters Thursday stressed the Iraqis and Iraqis allies are making progress in Iraqis fight against the group that calls itself the Islamic State.
article_snippet.sent: In fact, officials insist that ISIS has been degraded substantially thanks to a combination of air power and ground combat.
article_snippet.sent: The biggest and most recent example of this came with the recapture a few weeks ago of Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein that is located some 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
article_snippet.sent: Iraqi forces aided by Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen took that northern city, the same place where ISIS allegedly massacred Iraqi troops last year.
article_snippet.sent: Still, Mosul isn't Tikrit.
article_snippet.sent: And it's more important not only to Iraq, but ISIS, meaning the terrorist group has all the more reason to go all-out to defend the terrorist group.
article_snippet.sent: In some ways, the campaign for Mosul has begun, according to officials.
article_snippet.sent: There are no plans for U.S. combat troops involvement in an eventual operation, the campaign for Mosul say, but airstrikes have already targeted ISIS positions in the area.
article_snippet.sent: Just because the area has been softened up some from the air, though, doesn't mean a full ground assault is imminent.
highlights_snippet.sent: U.S. official said in February that Iraqi troops could go into Mosul in April or May .
  