“Our enemy wanted to kill our civilisation, but we have won through our unity and determination.”
Iraqi PM declares victory over Islamic State’s forces in the nation
HAIDER AL-ABADI, prime minister of Iraq
PRIME Minister Haider alAbadi yesterday declared victory in a threeyear war by Iraqi forces to expel the Islamic State jihadist group that, at its height, endangered Iraq’s very existence.
“Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border, and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh (IS),” Abadi told a conference in Baghdad, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
“Our enemy wanted to kill our civilisation, but we have won through our unity and determination. We have triumphed in little time,” he said, hailing Iraq’s “heroic armed forces”.
As the authorities announced a public holiday today “to celebrate the victory”, Abadi said in a speech at the defence ministry that Iraq’s next battle would be to defeat the scourge of corruption.
IS seized vast areas north and west of Baghdad in a lightning offensive in 2014.
With Iraq’s army and police retreating in disarray at the time, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader of the country’s majority Shiites, called for a general mobilisation, leading to the formation of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units.
Iraq’s counterattack was also launched with the backing of an air campaign waged by a United States-led coalition, recapturing town after town from the clutches of the jihadists.
The US State Department hailed the end of the jihadists’ “vile occupation” but cautioned that the fight was not over.
“The US joins the government of Iraq in stressing that Iraq’s liberation does not mean the fight against terrorism, and even against ISIS (IS), in Iraq is over,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
The coalition, meanwhile, tweeted: “Congratulations to the government of Iraq and the Iraqi security forces on the liberation of all Daesh-held populated areas in Iraq.” Hisham al-Hashemi, an expert on jihadist groups, warned that IS still posed a threat by retaining arms caches in uninhabited desert zones.
Iraq’s close ally, Iran already declared victory over IS last month, as the jihadists clung to just a few remaining scraps of territory.
But Abadi said at the time he would not follow suit until the desert on the border with Syria had been cleared.