Iraqi PM announces full liberation of Mosul from IS

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Prime Minister of Iraq on Monday declared the full liberation of Mosul as the last Islamic State (IS) controlled area in the Old City was taken by Iraqi forces.

Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi PM, officially announced the defeat of IS extremists in the city of Mosul, the capital of the self-claimed IS caliphate in Iraq.

In a televised speech at the Counter Terrorism Service’s headquarter in Mosul, Abadi said "I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terror.”

Mosul liberation operation launched on October 17, 2016 with the participation of 100,000 fighters including Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces, Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi, and backed by the US-led anti-IS Global Coalition.

We have the mission of creating stability, build and clear IS cells ahead of us, Abadi said, stating that for that to be done intelligence and security effort and the unity is required to enable the Iraqi forces to fight IS.

In a tweet, the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council Masrour Barzani congratulated the Iraqi forces, Peshmerga and the Coalition for the military victory in Mosul, stating that “the country needs a strategy to win the peace.”