Iraq says war with ISIL is over, as last territory is liberated

Prime minister Haider Al Abadi said Iraqi forces were in full control of the country’s border with Syria

Iraq yesterday declared its war on ISIL was over after more than three years of combat drove the extremists from all of the territory they once held.

Prime minister Haider Al Abadi said Iraqi forces were in full control of the country’s border with Syria, the last area with any significant presence of the extremist group’s fighters.

His spokesman said the development marked the end of the military fight against ISIL and a senior military commander confirmed that combat operations had been completed.

“All Iraqi lands are liberated from terrorist Daesh gangs and our forces completely control the international Iraqi-Syrian border,” Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Yar Allah said.

The US-led international coalition against ISIL congratulated Iraq on the “significant victory”. “We stand by the Iraqi people as they set the conditions for a secure and prosperous future,” it said.

ISIL fighters overran third of Iraqi territory, including the country’s second largest city of Modul, in the summer of 2014.

Since then Iraqi ground forces backed by the US-led coalition have retaken all of that ground. However, ISIL fighters remain capable of carrying out attacks in Iraq, and the group has recovered from setbacks.

Underlining the continued threat posed by ISIL, a unit of the Hashed Al Shaabi militias that have fought against ISIL alongside Iraqi troops said yesterday they killed 10 militants found hiding in a tunnel near Kirkuk city.

Iraqi forces retook the last town held by ISIL – Rawah, near the border with Syria – last month.

In the following weeks Iraqi forces continued to clear patches of the country’s vast western deserts.

In the most significant victory over the extremists, Iraqi forces this year retook Mosul. Mr Al Abadi declared the fight for Mosul over in July, but clashes continued there for weeks.

Iraq now faces the challenge of reconstruction. The fighting caused massive devastation in many areas, and about 3 million Iraqis remain displaced.

Baghdad also faces pressure over the future of Hashed Al Shaabi, which is comprised mainly of Iran-backed militias. Although now officially part of the government forces, they are seen by the US and Gulf Arab states as a potential tool for Iranian plans to expand its influence in the region.

Last week, a powerful Iranbacked Iraqi militant commander was filmed visiting the Lebanon-Israel border and expressing support for the Lebanese and Palestinians against Israel.

Qais Al Khazali of the Asaib Ahl Al Haq, or League of the Righteous, a group that staged attacks against US troops before their withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, appeared in military uniform in the video, along with members of Lebanon’s militant Hizbollah group, which is also supported by Iran.

Yesterday, the visit was condemned by prime minister Saad Hariri, who called it a breach of Lebanese law and ordered that the commander be banned from Lebanon again.

The video was broadcast by Asaib Ahl Al Haq al Ahd TV station on Thursday night.