Tabnak – After successfully retaking Mosul, the most important ISIS stronghold in Iraq, Iraqi security forces together with popular armed groups are preparing the next stage of operation to completely expel the terrorists out of their country. Tal Afar is the main focus in the new phase of their operation.
According to the Associated Press, the commander of Iraq’s air force says Iraqi and coalition planes have stepped up airstrikes on ISIS targets in the town of Tal Afar, ahead of a planned offensive there. Lt. Gen. Anwar Hama says the planes attacked ISIS terrorist group headquarters, tunnels and weapons’ stores on Tuesday.
This comes as Iraqi forces are building up around the ISIS-held town west of Mosul, one of the last pockets of militant-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared against the terrorists in Mosul in July.
Mohammed al-Khudari, a spokesman for Iraq’s Defense Ministry, confirmed that the Iraqi Air Force launched Tal Afar liberation operation on Tuesday. He stressed that the ground offensive to retake the city will start following the completion of those strikes.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking official of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, said on Monday that the pro-government fighters will actively participate alongside other security forces in the operation to liberate Tal Afar.
PMU's Spokesman Ahmed Asadi said during a press conference in Baghdad that the operation will be officially announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi after the preparations have ended. Currently, PMU forces are deployed in the areas West of Anbar province near the Syrian border to close and control the border.
A PMU commander has further clarified that six militia groups will take part in the Tal Afar operation. Lieutenant Faraj Hamed said the Abbas Brigade, Ali Al-Akbar Brigade, the Badr Military Wing, the Imam Ali Brigades, the Imam Hussein Brigade, and the Hezbollah Battalions will participate in the fight to seize control of Tal Afar from ISIS.
Tal Afar, which had about 200,000 residents before falling to ISIS, experienced cycles of sectarian violence after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of the terrorist group's most senior commanders. The predominantly Turkmen city, Tal Afar was captured by ISIS in mid-2014 along with vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq.
The United Nations says some 49,000 people have fled the Tal Afar district since April. According to the UN, over the course of the nine-month operation to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, nearly a million people were displaced from in and around the city.
In late June, Commander of Nineveh Liberation Operations Major General Najim Abdullah al-Jubouri said there were between 1,500 and 2,000 ISIS terrorists holed up in Tal Afar, and predicted a relatively easy victory for government forces in the operation saying the terrorists were "worn out and demoralized.
ISIS lost control of Mosul, its last urban bastion in Iraq, early last month, following a two-phased Iraqi military offensive, which first began in October 2016.
