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A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 1 September 2017

Iraq says Tal Afar ‘fully liberated’ from Islamic State

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN The announcement on Tal
Associated Press Afar came a day after Jor-
BAGHDAD (AP) — The dan and Iraq reopened
northern town of Tal Afar their only border crossing
has been “fully liberated” after a two-year closure.
from the Islamic State They were able to reopen
group, Iraq’s prime minis- it after Iraqi forces drove IS
ter said Thursday, further from most of the vast Anbar
shrinking the territory con- province in western Iraq.
trolled by the extremists Al-Abadi vowed to retake
who overran nearly a third all areas still under IS con-
of the country three years trol. In Iraq, they are now
ago. largely confined to the
The militants have suffered northern town of Hawija
a series of major defeats in and a handful of others —
recent months, including Qaim, Rawa and Ana —
the loss of Mosul, the sec- near the Syrian border.
ond-largest city, in July. In a separate statement,
Iraqi troops “eliminated the Iraqi military con-
and smashed” the militant firmed that their next tar-
In this Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017 photo, an Iraqi policeman checks the documents of displaced group in al-Ayadia dis- get is Hawija, but did not
civilians at a collection point west of Mosul on the outskirts of Tal Afar, Iraq. Iraq’s prime minister
declared the town of Tal Afar “fully liberated” from the Islamic State group after a nearly two- trict, northwest of Tal Afar, elaborate. Iraqi state TV
week operation. Haider al-Abadi said Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, that Iraqi troops “eliminated and where they had fled last interrupted its regular pro-
smashed Daesh terrorists” in al-Ayadia district, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Tal Afar, week, Prime Minister Haider grams and played nation-
where the militants fled last week. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for IS. al-Abadi said in a state- al songs, showing a live
(AP Photo/Balint Szlanko) ment. “To Daesh criminals feed from Tal Afar, where
we say: Wherever you are soldiers danced and cel-
we will come to liberate ebrated the victory. In his
and you have to choose announcement, al-Abadi
only death or surrender,” alluded to an agreement
al-Abadi added, using an brokered by Lebanon’s
Arabic acronym for the Hezbollah militant group
group. that allowed hundreds of
With the fall of Tal Afar, all IS fighters to evacuate the
of Ninevah province is “in Lebanon-Syria border and
the hands of our brave head toward IS-held terri-
troops,” he said. The ethni- tory in eastern Syria, near
cally mixed province was Iraq. Iraq and the U.S.-led
the first to fall to the Islam- coalition criticized the
ic State when its militants deal, saying the extremists
swept across large parts of should be killed on the bat-
Iraq and Syria in the sum- tlefield and not be allowed
mer of 2014. to regroup elsewhere.
The group still controls a Al-Abadi said Iraqi forces
large area of eastern Syria, “didn’t allow them to flee”
along the border with Iraq, al-Ayadia.
as well as parts of Raqqa, “That’s our firm stance
the capital of the group’s against those criminals,” he
self-styled caliphate, where added.
it is battling U.S.-backed The coalition praised what
and Kurdish-led Syrian forc- it called a “stunning vic-
es. Iraqi officials often de- tory,” but it warned that
clare areas liberated be- “dangerous work remains
fore the fighting has com- to completely remove ex-
pletely ended, and the plosive devices, identify
militants have been known ISIS fighters in hiding and
to carry out surprise coun- eliminate any remaining
terattacks. The Tal Afar op- ISIS holdouts.” ISIS is anoth-
eration began nearly two er acronym for the militant
weeks ago. group.q