Iraqi Troops Launch Offensive to Recapture Last Daesh Stronghold

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Saturday to capture Rawa, the last remaining town under Daesh (ISIL) control, leaving the terror group's self-proclaimed caliphate on the verge of complete defeat.

News ID: 66953

Date: 11 November 2017 - 16:10

The capture of the town would mark the end of Daesh's era of territorial rule over a so-called caliphate that it proclaimed in 2014 across vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Syria's army declared victory over the militants on Thursday, after seizing the last substantial town on the border with Iraq.

The army and its allies were still fighting Daesh in desert areas near Albukamal, the last town the militant group had held in Syria.

Two Iraqi infantry divisions and tribal forces are participating in the offensive to recapture the small town of Rawa and its surrounding areas along the border with Syria, the Joint Operations Command said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Last week, Iraqi forces recaptured the larger town of al-Qaim, in what Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called "record time," leaving just a few small pockets of land in Daesh's hands.