Iraqi forces poised for victory over ISIL in Tal Afar

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Iraqi security forces fully liberated the city of Tal Afar after an eight-day offensive to drive out ISIL militants from the city and its surrounding areas, the Iraqi military said Sunday.

Just a week after authorities announced a campaign to push the jihadists from one of their last major urban strongholds in Iraq, the Joint Operations Command said Iraqi forces held all 29 districts of the city and were pursuing final clearing operations.

The army's 9th Armored Division and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units recaptured al-Askari neighborhood, the industrial area and adjacent village of al-Rahma in the northeast of the city, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a brief statement.

Iraqi forces' fighters could already be seen celebrating, flashing victory signs as their tanks rolled through the streets, waving Iraqi flags and taking down black ISIL banners from buildings and lamp posts.

Iraqi forces' fighters flash the victory gesture from an armored vehicle during the advance through the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, after the Iraqi government announced the launch of the operation to retake it from ISIL's control, on August 26, 2017. /AFP Photo

By the recapture of the last neighborhoods, the troops completely freed the city of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, the statement said.

The troops and armored vehicles are pushing northward to the remaining ISIL-held town of Ayadhiyah and surrounding villages, it added.

The federal police forces, known as Rapid Response, had ended their part in the offensive earlier, after recapturing three neighborhoods west of the central part of Tal Afar, according to a military statement.

The Tal Afar area is about 3,206 square km, which consists of the city of Tal Afar and three towns: Zummar, which is under control of the Kurdish security forces, Mahalabiyah, which was freed from ISIL militants during the past few days, and Ayadhiyah, which is still under ISIL control.

Iraqi forces' fighters advance through a street in the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, after the Iraqi government announced the launch of the operation to retake it from ISIL's control, on August 26, 2017. /AFP Photo

The whole Tal Afar area consists of 47 villages scattered around the city and its three towns. Tal Afar has experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi’ites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and has produced some of ISIL's most senior commanders.

The United Nation's International Organization for Migration estimated that the population in Tal Afar and surrounding areas is between 10,000 and 40,000 people.

Tens of thousands of people are believed to have fled in the weeks before the battle started. Remaining civilians were threatened with death by the militants, according to aid organizations and residents who managed to leave.

Iraqi forces advance through the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, after the Iraqi government announced the launch of the operation to retake it from ISIL's control, on August 26, 2017. /AFP Photo‍

Before the liberation, the army's Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jubouri, the commander of Nineveh's Operations Command, told reporters that he estimated there were between 1,500 and 2,000 ISIL militants left in Tal Afar.

Despite its losses in Iraq and Syria, ISIL has continued to claim responsibility for attacks carried out by its members or supporters abroad, including this month's deadly attacks in Spain and knife attacks in Russia and Brussels.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency