Iraq News

2016 is end of ISIL in Anbar: commander

The year 2016 will be the final year that the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) will be able to exert any territorial control in Anbar province, Anbar Military Operations Commander Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi said Thursday (August 4th).

“Iraqi forces have this year liberated Fallujah, al-Karma, al-Saqlawiya, Heet, al-Azrakiya, Rutbah, and al-Khalidiya Island, as well as 213 small and large villages in the province, and have sacrificed a lot of blood from the Iraqi people across the spectrum,” al-Mahalawi told Diyaruna.

“ISIL has lost thousands of its elements who were killed and wounded, and their image has been weakened and their morale has been greatly undermined,” he said.

ISIL presence is now concentrated in the north-western part of Anbar province along the Syria border, he said, and "we will be attacking these areas to put an end to that presence in the remaining four months of the year”.

“The end of 2016 will be the end of ISIL as a tangible force on the ground, and it will turn into scattered cells and gangs that will be much easier to get rid of,” he added.

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