Iraqi forces invade ISIS’s last major town
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Iraqi forces on Friday entered Rawa, the last major town held by Islamic State militants in the country, a military official said.
Iraqi forces on Friday entered Rawa, the last major town held by Islamic State militants in the country, a military official said.
Maj.-Gen. Noman al-Zubaie, the chief of the Iraqi army’s Seventh Division told newsmen that the advance came hours after Iraq launched a new attack aimed at expelling Islamic State from Rawa near the border with Syria.
“Army troops and tribal fighters are participating in the U.S.-backed campaign.
“The forces have started storming Rawa from three directions,’’ Al-Zubaie added without further details.
Rawa is in the western province of Anbar where Islamic State established a foothold in Iraq in early 2014.
Earlier this month, Iraq announced it had retaken control of the western town of al-Qaim near the Syrian border, dealing a significant blow to Islamic State.
Al-Qaim was strategically important for Islamic State because it linked Iraq across the border to areas under the radical group’s control in war-torn Syria.
In recent months, Islamic State has lost vast chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria where the al-Qaeda-splinter group launched a self-proclaimed caliphate.
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