Surrender or die, Al-Abadi tells Daesh militants
ABU GHADDUR:
US-backed Iraqi forces on Sunday launched a multi-pronged assault to retake the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, marking the next phase in the country’s war against Daesh.
Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets of Daesh-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in July in Mosul, the country’s secondlargest city.
The town, about 150 km (93 miles) east of the Syrian border, sits along a major road that was once a key Daesh supply route.
“The city of Tal Afar will be liberated and will join all the liberated cities,” Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said in a televised speech early Sunday. He was dressed in a black uniform of the type worn by Iraqi special forces. He called on the militants to “surrender or die.”
By early afternoon, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, who commands the operation, said the forces had recaptured a series of villages east, southwest and northwest of town.
The US-led coalition providing air and other support to the troops praised what it said was a “capable, formidable, and increasingly professional force.”
“They are well prepared to deliver another defeat” to Daesh in Tal Afar, like in Mosul, the coalition said in a statement.
On the front lines, pillars of smoke could be seen rising in the distance as US and Belgian special forces worked with Iraqi troops to establish a position on the roof of a house. They later fired mortar launched drones.
Lt. Gen. Riyad Jalal Tawfiq, of the Iraqi army, said Daesh had deployed small teams of attackers as well as suicide car bombs rounds and and roadside bombs.
The coalition estimates that approximately 10,000-50,000 civilians remain in and around Tal Afar. In past battles, Daesh has prevented civilians from fleeing and used them as human shields, slowing Iraqi advances.
Hours after announcing the operation, the UN expressed concerns over the safety of the civilians, calling on warring parties to protect them.
Iraqi authorities have set up a toll-free number and a radio station to help guide fleeing civilians to safety.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, described the situation inside Tal Afar as “very tough,” with food and water running out and many lacking basic necessities.
Along with Tal Afar, the militants are still fully in control of the northern town of Hawija as well as Qaim, Rawa and Ana, in western Iraq near the Syrian border.
Tal Afar has been a stronghold for extremists in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Many senior leaders of Daesh and its predecessor, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, were from Tal Afar.
Iraq’s state-sanctioned and mostly Shiite militias largely stayed out of the operation to retake Mosul, a mostly Sunni city about 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the east, but have vowed to play a bigger role in the battle for Tal Afar.