Iraq declares ‘end of war’ against IS

BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has declared victory in a three-year war by Iraqi forces to expel the Islamic State (IS) 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 said here on Saturday.

“Our enemy wanted to kill our civilisation, but we have won through our unity and our determination. We have triumphed in little time,” he said, hailing Iraq’s “heroic armed forces”.

As the authorities announced a public holiday on Sunday “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 Hashed alShaabi paramilitary units.

Iraq’s fightback was also launched with the backing of an air campaign waged by a US-led coalition, recapturing town after town from the clutches of the jihadists in fierce urban warfare.

The jihadists’ defeat is a massive turnaround for an organisation that in 2014 ruled over seven million people in a territory as big as Italy encompassing large parts of Syria and nearly a third of Iraq. – AFP