Iraqi security forces on Sunday launched an offensive to take control of the city of Tal Afar back from the Islamic State group, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the operation, which comes a month after the country’s troops freed Mosul from the grip of the militant group.
“I am telling Daesh [the Islamic State] that there is no choice other than to leave or be killed,” he said in a televised speech. “We have won all our battles, and Daesh have always lost.”
Tal Afar, located around 70 km from Mosul, is a stronghold of Sunni militants. The Islamic State had captured the city in 2014.
On July 9, Abaidi had declared a victory for its troops and Iraqis in Mosul over the terrorist outfit. It had seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in June 2014.
On October 17, 2016, Iraqi forces backed by a United States-led coalition had launched a major offensive to retake Mosul. More than a million people have been killed, thousands of civilians have been displaced and large parts of the city destroyed in the past nine months of fighting.
The military campaign was seen as Iraq’s biggest since US forces left its soil in 2011.
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