Iraqi forces capture Tal Afar center from Islamic State

[August 26, 2017]  By Thaier Al-Sudani and Kawa Omar

TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from 70 percent of Tal Afar, a stronghold of the militants in northwestern Iraq, including its central citadel neighborhood, officials and military commanders said on Saturday.

"Seventy percent of the city has been liberated.... God willing, the remaining part will be liberated soon," Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a news conference with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and French Defence Minister Florence Parly, in Baghdad.

The offensive on Tal Afar, which lies on the supply route between Syria and the former Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, started on Aug. 20.

The elite Counter Terrorism Service "liberated the citadel neighborhood .. and raised the Iraqi flag on top of the citadel building," a statement from the Iraqi joint operations command said.

Much of the Ottoman-era citadel itself was destroyed by the militants end 2014.

The city, located 80 km (50 miles) west of Mosul, has produced some of the militant group's most senior commanders.

It experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Tal Afar, which had a pre-war population of about 200,000, is the latest objective in the U.S.-backed war on Islamic State following the recapture of Mosul after a nine-month campaign that left much of the city, the biggest in northern Iraq, in ruins.

The fall of Mosul effectively marked the end of the self-proclaimed caliphate Islamic State declared over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. Tal Afar was cut off from the rest of IS-held territory in June.

A military vehicle of the Iraqi army with Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) is seen during a fight with the Islamic State militants in Tal Afar, Iraq August 26, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Up to 2,000 militants remain in Tal Afar, according to U.S. and Iraqi military commanders. The number of civilians left in the city is between 10,000 and 20,000, according to the U.S. military.

As in the battle for Mosul, civilians are suffering.

Waves of residents fled the city in the weeks before the battle started. Those remaining are threatened with death by the militants, who have held a tight grip there since 2014, according to aid organizations and residents who managed to flee.

On Tuesday, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said those who had fled were suffering from dehydration and exhaustion, having lived off unclean water and bread for three to four months.

People were arriving at camps for displaced people with wounds from sniper fire and mine explosions.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

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