MOSSUL – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally announced a victory over the Islamic state in Mosul on Monday, claiming that Iraqi troops have retaken the entire city of the jihadis. Al-Abadi returned to the city and, in statements on Twitter and the state-run television network, proclaimed “total victory”, marking the biggest defeat for the group since declaring a caliphate three years ago.
“I announce here the end, the defeat and the collapse of the false terrorist state that the Islamic State proclaimed in Mosul,” the premier said. – The priority for government is stability and reconstruction.
The PM congratulated Iraqi troops for victory in clashes in the latest outbreak of extremist resistance in Mosul in an area of ​​about 200 meters where the remaining fighters of the group were in the Old City. Iraq’s security forces, backed by the United States, launched an operation to resume Mossul in October and in recent days they have surrounded the last hundred militants in an area of ​​less than a square kilometer.
In Baghdad, in Tahrir Square, the residents celebrated the reconquest of the second largest city in the country. The resumption of Mosul, a city transformed by the Islamic state into its main stronghold in Iraq, is the most important victory of the country’s troops since the Sunni extremist group seized in 2014 vast territories in the country and neighboring Syria.
Despite the important victory, the resumption of Mosul will not mark the end of the war against the Islamic state, which still controls several areas in Iraq, including the cities of Tal Afar, 50 km west of Mosul, and Hawija, about 300 km North of Baghdad, and desert areas in al-Anbar province in the west of the country, as well as the al-Qa’im region bordering Syria.
The extremist group still controls territories in eastern and central Syria, despite having lost ground since 2015, and its raqqa in the north is surrounded by US-backed forces.
Since October, Iraqi forces have been trying to retake Mosul. In January, the country’s troops regained control of the eastern part of the city and in February launched the attack on the west. Fighting intensified as the siege closed on the extremists in the Old City, an area of ​​narrow, densely populated streets.
Mosul is loaded with symbolism for the group, since it was there that its leader, Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi, made his only public appearance in a video published in July 2014. Several countries that are part of the international coalition, including France and the United States United States, congratulated Baghdad for its victory in the war against the Islamic State. Iran, which supports some Shi’ite Iraqi militias in fighting the jihadist group, congratulated Iraq on its victory and offered its aid for the reconstruction of the reclaimed cities such as Mosul, Tikrit, Ramadi and Fallujah.