A military plan to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS could begin as soon as January using Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces , a U.S. official confirmed to CNN . The current plan is to assemble about 1,000 troops , with Iraqi forces approaching Mosul from the south and Peshmerga forces from the west , said the official , who spoke on the condition of anonymity . But everything in the plan is `` conditions based , '' and the exact timing and size of the force to be used remains to be determined , the official said . It 's unclear how long such an operation would take to be successful . The idea is for groups to enter Mosul and attempt to establish initial footholds . They would then seek to expand their areas of military control , pushing out the militant terror group that also refers to itself as Islamic State , according to the official . U.S. and coalition aircraft would provide support from the air . It is not expected that any U.S. troops would be on the ground to locate targets for aircraft to strike , but Iraqi and Peshmerga commanders could communicate targets to the coalition , the officials said . The U.S. military is planning to train 12 Iraqi and Peshmerga brigades and plans to start arming members of the Sunni Anbari tribe , according to a military officials . All of this will be a series of judgment calls and agreements with Iraqis as to how many troops are involved and when they 're ready to go , the U. S. official said , and should not be thought of as set in stone . ISIS released a new video Friday titled `` A visit to Mosul '' , which shows peaceful scenes in the city and claims that Christians and Yazidis there have now `` entered Islam . '' The video is in stark contrast to the violence usually shown in ISIS propaganda .
U.S. military official says there is a plan to retake Pershmerga from CNN . Mosul would be attacked by Sunni and Mosul forces , officials said . Pershmerga would only provide air support , no ground troops are planned , official said . ISIS issues new propaganda video showing peaceful scenes in Mosul .