Surrender or die, Iraq tells Daesh in Tal Afar

baghdad — Iraqi security forces launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar on Sunday, their next objective in the USbacked campaign to defeat Daesh militants, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said.

“You either surrender, or die,” Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants. A longtime stronghold of insurgents, Tal Afar, 80km west of Mosul in Iraq’s far north, experienced cycles of sectarian violence after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and it has produced some of Daesh’s most senior commanders.

The city was cut off from the rest of Daesh-held territory in June. It is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shia volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

Hours before Abadi’s announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city advising the population to take precautions. “Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing,” the leaflets read.

About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in Tal Afar, according to US and Iraqi military commanders. —

baghdad — Iraqi forces on Sunday launched an assault to retake the northern city of Tal Afar from the Daesh group, after ousting militants from Mosul last month.

Tal Afar lies around 70km west of second city Mosul, which Iraqi forces recaptured in early July in a major blow to militants.

In a televised speech early on Sunday, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, dressed in military uniform and standing in front of an Iraqi flag and map of the country, announced “the start of an operation to free Tal Afar”.

“I am saying to Daesh that there’s no choice other than to leave or be killed,” he said.

“We have won all our battles, and Daesh have always lost,” he said, telling his troops: “The entire world is with you.”

Several hours after the start of the battle, the federal police said it had retaken the village of Al Abra Al Sghira west of Tal Afar.

Daesh militants in June 2014 overran Tal Afar, a Shia enclave in the predominantly Sunni province of Nineveh, on the road between Mosul and Syria.

Abadi said that Iraq’s Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary forces would help army, police and counter-terrorism units to retake Tal Afar.

The umbrella organisation, which is dominated by Iran-backed Shia militias, has already been fighting to retake a number of other Iraqi cities from Daesh.

“In the early hours, the guns and flags turned towards their targets,” said Hashed spokesman Ahmed Al Assadi.

“Victory is near” in Tal Afar, an “Iraqi city taken hostage and humiliated for years by attacks from these barbarians,” he said.

Even before the Abadi’s announcement, Iraqi planes had dropped leaflets to residents in Tal Afar and its surroundings, the Hashed said in a statement.

The authorities said they had set up a radio station to keep residents informed of developments.

Daesh overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory.

Once Tal Afar is retaken, Iraqi authorities intend to turn their sights south to launch a fight to retake militant-held Hawijah, in the province of Kirkuk, 300 kilometres northwest of Baghdad.

I am saying to daesh that there’s no choice other than to leave or be killed. We have won all our battles, and daesh have always lost Haider Al Abadi, Iraqi Prime Minister

Militants still hold areas in Anbar, a western province that borders Syria and faces major security challenges.

Daesh has also suffered major setbacks in Syria, where US-backed fighters have retaken around half of its de facto Syrian capital Raqqa.

Syrian troops have almost entirely encircled Daesh in Syria’s central desert region, and militants are facing twin assaults from the Lebanese army and Hezbollah on the Lebanon-Syrian border. —