Story highlights Commander of the coalition fighting ISIS gives an exclusive interview on how the fight is going

"If I need more resources I will go to my chain of command and tell them what I need to get the job done," he says

Near Mosul, Iraq (CNN) The US general commanding the coalition fight against ISIS expects the fight for its de facto capital to have hit the city center by this summer, and in an exclusive interview with CNN, he held out the possibility that more US troops may be needed for that tougher fight.

Speaking on a day trip to the Bakhaira base, where US troops provide assistance for the fight in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said, "I certainly hope that the assault on Raqqa is underway by this summer."

Pressed if he would be surprised if that fight continued into next year, he said, "In Raqqa city? Yes."

After the grueling fight for the main Iraqi stronghold of ISIS, its northern city of Mosul, the focus of the coalition and new administration of President Donald Trump has shifted to Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of the militant group's self-declared caliphate. The battle -- for a city a lot smaller in size than Mosul yet still highly symbolic -- is expected to be long and complex, given the array of opposing forces positioned around the city.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend (shown in a file photo) says he may need more troops in the fight for Raqqa.

Townsend held out the possibility that further US troops could be required for the assault against the ISIS-held city, currently flanked to the north, east and west by coalition-backed Syrian rebel forces, called the SDF.

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