Tal Afar

Turkey underlined the importance of bringing Tal Afar under the control of local people and the Iraqi army, not Shia militias, following the liberation of the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

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.      

An Iraqi military spokesman says Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants are putting up tough resistance in a small area outside the newly liberate town of Tal Afar.

Iraqi forces have retaken almost all of Tal Afar, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) stronghold in the country's northwest, the Iraqi military said in a statement on Aug. 27.
Fighting was ongoing in al-'Ayadiya, a small area just outside the city. Iraqi forces were waiting to retake the city's surrounding areas to declare a complete victory.
   

Iraqi military forces fighting the terrorist group Islamic state have liberated the center of the northern city of Tal Afar and its citadel that was built during the Ottoman Empire, FOCUS News Agency reported.

"Parts of the Counter-Terrorist Forces have fed the Citadel and Basatin districts and erected the Iraqi flag on the fortress," the military said.

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 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 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.

Iraqi forces are carrying out air strikes on Tal Afar, a town held by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) west of Mosul, in preparation for a ground assault, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Aug. 15.