Counter Terrorism Service

Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) 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 Aug. 26. 

Iraqi forces on Aug. 22 recaptured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group the first two districts of jihadist bastion Tal Afar.  Iraqi troops reached the first urban areas on the third day of a multi-pronged operation, said a military commander.

The battle to take full control of Mosul from Islamic State of  Iraq and the Levant will be over in a few days and an attempted fight-back by the militants failed, an Iraqi general told Reuters on June 26.

Iraqi forces began storming the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-held Old City of Mosul on June 18, an assault they hope will be the last in the eight-month campaign to seize the militants' stronghold.

The historic district is the last still under control of the  militants in the city which used to be their capital in Iraq. 

Iraqi soldiers are in control of the road linking west Mosul with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-held town of Tal Afar, isolating jihadists in the city, a senior commander said on March 1.

Iraqi forces joined flanks in northern Mosul and drove back the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in the southeast on Jan. 12 in a renewed push that has brought them closer to controlling the eastern half of the city. 

The offensive to seize back Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is going faster than planned, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Oct. 20, as Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched a new military operation to clear villages on the city's outskirts. 

Iraqi government forces recaptured a university campus yesterday on the outskirts of Ramadi from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), seizing a key position for any offensive to retake the city, officials said.

Iraqi forces had recaptured parts of Anbar University in May, shortly after losing the provincial capital to the jihadists, but later pulled back.