Iraq declares victory over ISIS after three years of battles
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State on Saturday, announcing the end of more than three years of battles to regain control over nearly one-third of the country that had been under the terrorist group’s dominion.
Abadi’s carefully calibrated statement came months after armed forces had wrested back control over Iraq’s major urban areas, notably its secondlargest city, Mosul, and had shifted focus to mopping up remnants of the militants who had escaped or gone underground in the vast desert border areas between Iraq and Syria.
“Our forces fully control the Iraqi-Syrian border, and thus we can announce the end of the war against Daesh,” Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, known as ISIS.
The Iraqi senior military commander in charge of operations against the Islamic State confirmed that his forces, supported by the U.S.-led coalition, had regained control of the border areas.
Military leaders have said they were the last part of the country where ISIS’ supporters could muster any organized resistance.
Still, security analysts and military commanders warned that the end of large-scale military maneuvers did not mean the end of the Islamic State threat.
Hours before Abadi’s speech, a bomb suspected of being planted by insurgents exploded in the center of Tikrit, an area of anti-government activity for many years, before the creation of the Islamic State’s caliphate.
Among the urgent challenges officials now face to ensure security and stability are reconstruction plans for cities like Mosul, which was destroyed by the fighting, as well as reconciliation programs for the country’s Sunni and Shiite communities, said Hussein Allawi, a professor of national security at Al Nahrain University in Baghdad.
Some 3 million Iraqis remain displaced by the war, and municipal services have yet to be restored in many liberated areas.
“The battles against Daesh are over, but the war is not,” Allawi said.