bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Hundreds of additional troops were sent into al-’Ayadiya on Wednesday, as Iraqi forces came under increasing pressure to clear Islamic State (IS) fighters from their final position in the group’s former stronghold of Tal Afar, military officials said.
Iraqi forces have been facing an unexpectedly tough battle in the small town, 11km (7 miles) northwest of Tal Afar.
“We have to finish the battle before Eid, whatever it takes,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Adnan al-Saidi. “We are coming under tremendous pressure from top commanders.”
The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha begins on Thursday evening.
“We will take back al-Ayadiya even if we have to level all houses and buildings used by Daesh,” Saidi said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.


The fighting in al-Ayadiya has been described by some Iraqi troops as “multiple times worse” than the battle for Mosul, the former de facto IS capital in northern Iraq. The city was flattened in nine months of grinding urban warfare before it was recaptured in July.
Colonel Kareem al-Lami said breaching the militants’ first line of defence in al-Ayadiya was like opening “the gates of hell”.
Victory in sight as Iraq forces recapture Tal Afar centre and citadel from IS
Iraqi army and Federal Police troops, backed by Shiite paramilitaries, began fighting house-by-house in the centre of the town earlier on Wednesday.
“Our soldiers now are engaging in a street fight with the militant group in al-Ayadiya,” Lieutenant General Qasim Nazzal told state television, adding that fighters in groups of three were barricaded inside “every single house and building”.

The terrain does not allow tanks to enter, so infantry soldiers have been using light weapons and grenades, Colonel Salah Kareem said.
Tal Afar had a pre-war population of more than 200,000.
Several thousand are believed to have fled in the weeks before the battle started. According to the United Nations, more than 30,000 had fled since April.
Tal Afar became the next target of the US-backed war on Islamic State following the recapture of Mosul the city where the group had declared its “caliphate”” over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.


Abducted American journalist Kittleson released by Iraqi armed group, Rubio says

A Pakistani strike killed her son in rehab. Now an Afghan mother demands answers

Surging ‘Jewish terrorism’ in West Bank condemned but goes unpunished

Why India is quietly deepening its engagement with the Taliban

Islamic militancy

Iraqis fight to wipe out last Islamic State holdouts in Tal Afar

Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance towards Al-Ayadieh village, the last remaining active front line near Tal Afar, during an operation to retake the city from the Islamic State (IS) group. Photo: AFP

Iraqi forces chat as they advance towards the al-Ayadieh area, north of Tal Afar, during the ongoing battle to oust the last pockets of Islamic State group jihadists from the area on August 30, 2017. Jihadists inside Tal Afar were believed to have fled to Al-Ayadieh, located on the road between the city and the Syrian border, where they appeared to be making a desperate last stand. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

News

World

Middle East