Iraq News

Iraq holds parade to celebrate victories over ISIL

Iraqi security forces paraded through Baghdad on Thursday to celebrate victories over the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), but an unannounced rehearsal two days earlier left residents uneasy, AFP reported.

Prime Minister Haidar al-Abbadi reviewed the forces from a pavilion as they passed through central Tahrir Square, while military jets and helicopters flew over the city.

The parade was held to mark "the liberation of Fallujah and Ramadi and all the Iraqi territory that was liberated", Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Tahseen Ibrahim told AFP.

But an unannounced rehearsal on Tuesday, in which many roads were closed and military vehicles drove through the city, inspired fear rather than celebration.

Iraq announced the full recapture of Fallujah, a city 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad that had been outside government control for more than two and a half years, at the end of June.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was reclaimed in December but fighting there continued for several months.

More recently, Iraqi forces seized a key military base south of Mosul from ISIL that coalition leaders have said will serve as a "springboard" for the push to retake the country's last ISIL-held city.

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