Iraqi forces launch air raids on Daesh-held Tal Afar city
erbil (Iraq) — Iraqi forces are carrying out air strikes on Tal Afar, a town held by Daesh west of Mosul, in preparation for a ground assault, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Tuesday.
Daeh’s self-proclaimed caliphate effectively collapsed last month, when US-backed Iraqi forces completed the recapture of Mosul, the militants’ capital in northern Iraq, after a nine-month campaign.
Parts of Iraq and Syria remain however under Daesh control, especially along the border.
Iraqi authorities had said Tal Afar, 80 kilometre west of Mosul, will be the next target in the war on Daesh, who swept through parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The town, which had about 200,000 residents before falling to Daesh, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi’ites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Daesh’s most senior commanders.
“The preparations are under way, there are strikes aimed at wearing them down and keeping them busy, targeting their command and control centers, their depots...these strikes have been going on for some time,” Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in a statement.
“We are waiting for the commander in chief of the armed forces (Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi) to give the orders for the liberation battle to start.” Earlier on Tuesday, Baghdad-based Al Sumariya TV quoted Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Khodari as saying the ground attack should start after the aerial bombardment campaign.
One of Iraq’s senior military commanders, Major-General Najm Al Jabouri, told Reuters last month that between 1,500 and 2,000 militants were in Tal Afar, a figure which possibly includes some family members who support them.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Ryad Dillon said last Thursday that the coalition carried out more than 50 strikes in the past week against Daesh defensive positions, headquarters, weapons caches, and bomb factories in Tal Afar and also Kisik Junction to the east.
“We fully expect this to be a difficult fight to root out Daesh from one of their last strongholds in Iraq,” Dillon told a news briefing.
Jabouri had a different assessment of the battle, expecting a relatively easy victory. —