Fall of Mosul

A total of 174 Turkish militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have surrendered to the Iraqi army, Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) and Peshmerga forces in Iraq after the liberation of Mosul and Tal Afar from the jihadist group.

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. 

Nearly nine months after the start of the offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to retake Mosul after three years, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory and government control of his country's second largest city on July 9.

Iraq has received congratulations from several countries, including Turkey, for its landmark victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul, a city where the jihadist group had first declared its so-called caliphate. 

More than 5 million children are in urgent need of aid in Iraq, the United Nations said on Thursday, describing the war on Islamic State as "one of the most brutal" in modern history.

"Across Iraq, children continue to witness sheer horror and unimaginable violence," the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement.

After months of preparation and supported by the U.S.-led coalition's air power, the Iraqi army finally started its military operation to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Oct. 17, 2016. Since then, the operation has maintained a slow but steady progress, reaching the Tigris River by Jan. 8.

Iraqi security forces on Dec. 29 began the second phase of their offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Mosul, pushing from three directions into eastern districts where the battle has been deadlocked for nearly a month. 

The operation to liberate Syria's Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) should start after operations to retake Mosul from jihadists and Turkey's Euphrates Shield Operation end, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said Oct. 31. 

"Ten years ago, the Americans helped Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province west of Baghdad form the 'Awakening' movement to defeat a previous incarnation of violent fundamentalist Islam - al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s charges against Turkey for lending support to militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have found a bitter response from Ankara, who said al-Maliki was among the leading actors in the fall of Mosul to jihadists.