U.S. forces will help Iraq set up a logistics hub in a recaptured airfield to use for a push on Mosul, ISIS 's largest stronghold, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said before making an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday, Reuters reported . Iraqi government forces said they took back control of Qayara airbase, 60 km (40 miles) south of Mosul, from the militant group on Saturday, backed by air cover from a U.S.-led military coalition. "The seizure of the Qayara West airfield ... will be followed. Its purpose is to create a logistics hub there, so there will be U.S. logistics support," Carter told reporters. The airfield is "one of the hubs from which ... Iraqi security forces, accompanied and advised by us as needed, will complete the southern-most envelopment of Mosul," he added.
