Iraqi Civil War

American troops have started to draw down from Iraq following Baghdad’s declaration of victory over Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISL) last year, according to Western contractors at a U.S.-led coalition base in Iraq.

Iraqi Shiite paramilitary groups have deployed to the frontier to back up border guard forces who came under fire from within Syria over the past three days, one of their commanders has said.

Iraqi forces launched an operation on Thursday to clear the desert bordering Syria of Islamic State, a final campaign to rid Iraq of the militant group, the military said in a statement, reported Reuters. 

Iraqi forces say they have recaptured Hawija, one of the last enclaves of so-called Islamic State (IS).

The area, where tens of thousands of civilians live, has been under the militant group's control since 2014.

The recapture leaves just one area of Iraq under the militant group's control; a stretch of land along the western border with Syria.

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 taken the Al-Ayadieh district, Islamic State, Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) last stronghold in the northern city of Tal Afar, an Iraqi military source said on Aug. 31.      

Iraqi government forces broke through Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) lines inside Tal Afar on Aug. 25, and reached the old city center and the neighborhood around the Ottoman-era citadel, according to a military statement.

Iraqi forces advanced on Aug. 23 towards central Tal Afar, one of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's last strongholds in the country, as aid workers braced for an exodus of civilians fleeing the fighting.

Iraqi forces closed in Aug. 21 on Tal Afar on the second day of an offensive against the last major bastion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in the country's north, after seizing several villages around the city.

Iraqi forces retook an area near the Syrian border from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) yesterday as part of operations to expel the jihadists from strongholds in the country's north.

The Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) forces announced the "total liberation" of Al-Baaj district "with support from the air force."