Iraq declares final victory in war over ‘eternal enemy’ Islamic State

Haydar Hadi | Anadolu Company | Getty Pictures
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi delivers a speech throughout Baghdad Dialogue Convention in Baghdad, Iraq on January 14, 2017.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared ultimate victory over Islamic State on Saturday after Iraqi forces drove its final remnants from the nation, three years after the militant group captured a couple of third of Iraq’s territory.

The announcement comes two days after the Russian army introduced the defeat of the militants in neighboring Syria, the place Moscow is backing Syrian authorities forces.

Iraqi forces recaptured the final areas nonetheless below Islamic State management alongside the border with Syria, the army mentioned.

“Honourable Iraqis: your land has been fully liberated. The dream of liberation is now a actuality,” Abadi mentioned in a televised tackle. He was talking with 5 Iraqi flags and dozens of servicemen from completely different branches behind him.

“We’ve completed a really troublesome mission. Our heroes have reached the ultimate strongholds of Daesh and purified it. The Iraqi flag flies excessive in the present day over all Iraqi lands.”

A number of squadrons of Iraqi helicopters flew over Baghdad carrying Iraqi flags at midday, in an obvious rehearsal for a victory parade that Iraq is planning to carry within the coming days.

The federal government mentioned the declaration meant Iraqi forces had secured the western desert and your complete Iraq-Syria border, and marked the top of the conflict towards Islamic State.

Abadi declared Dec. 10 a nationwide vacation to be celebrated yearly. State tv aired celebratory songs praising authorities forces and militias.

The U.S.-led coalition that has been supporting the Iraqi forces towards Islamic State welcomed the information in a tweet.

“The Coalition congratulate the individuals of Iraq on their important victory towards #Daesh. We stand by them as they set the circumstances for a safe and affluent #futureiraq,” mentioned the tweet. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, fell in July after a grueling nine-month marketing campaign backed by a U.S.-led coalition that noticed a lot of the northern Iraqi metropolis destroyed.

Islamic State’s Syrian capital Raqqa additionally fell to a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition in September.