Iraqi forces launch battle for Tal Afar
U.S.-backed troops retake nearby villages
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched an offensive Sunday to retake the city of Tal Afar from the Islamic State after their success liberating Mosul in July.
Tal Afar, about 45 miles west of Mosul, is a much smaller city, but it’s one of the last pockets of territory in Iraq held by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The town sits along a road that had been a supply route for the group between Iraq and Syria.
“As we announce the start of operations to liberate Tal Afar, we salute the heroic Iraqi forces who fight to bring victory, freedom and peace,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a tweet Sunday.
Two Iraqi villages on the outskirts of Tal Afar fell Sunday to Iraqi military forces and to a Shiite militia under al-Abadi’s command, according to the Iraqi Kurdistan-based Rudaw news network.
Iraqi federal police announced they captured al-Ibrah al-Saghira with a combined helicopter and ground assault. The Shiite-dominated Hashd al- Shaabi militia announced taking Tal al-Sabban village, Rudaw reported.
The United Nations said
49,000 people have fled the Tal Afar district since April, and nearly 1 million people are displaced by the nine-month campaign to retake Mosul, the Associated Press reported.
The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, said civilians in Tal Afar face “very tough” conditions, including short supplies of food, water and other basic necessities.
The Tal Afar offensive involves all branches of the Iraqi security forces, including three army divisions, the counterterrorism service, federal police and emergency response divisions, police and local militias, according to the U.S. military.
“Following their historic victory in Mosul, the (Iraqi security forces) have proven themselves a capable, formidable and increasingly professional force, and they are well-prepared to deliver another defeat to ISIS in Tal Afar,” the U.S. military said.
Tal Afar has been a stronghold for extremists in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in
2003. Many senior leaders of ISIL and al- Qaeda in Iraq were from Tal Afar.