BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on developments in Iraq (all times local): 
 
 1:10 p.m. 
 
 Iraq's Ministry of Defense says Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led coalition have liberated the last Iraqi town held by Islamic State group. 
 
 The ministry said in a statement Friday morning that Iraqi military units and local tribal fighters entered the western neighborhoods of Rawah on the Euphrates River in the western province of Anbar. Officials then announced that forces had taken control of the town. 
 
 IS fighters swept across Iraq's north and west in the summer of 2014 capturing Iraq's second largest city of Mosul and advancing to the edges of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Later that year the U.S. began a campaign of airstrikes against the militants that fueled Iraqi territorial gains, allowing the military to retake Mosul in July of this year. 
 
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 11:59 a.m. 
 
 Iraq's Defense Ministry says Iraqi forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition have pushed into the last Islamic State group-held town in the country more than three years after the militant group stormed nearly a third of Iraqi territory. 
 
 The ministry says in a statement Friday morning Iraqi military units and local tribal fighters entered the western neighborhoods of Rawah on the Euphrates River in the western province of Anbar. 
 
 IS fighters swept across Iraq's north and west in the summer of 2014 capturing Iraq's second largest city of Mosul and advancing to the edges of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Later that year the U.S. began a campaign of airstrikes against the militants that fueled Iraqi territorial gains, allowing the military to retake Mosul in July of this year. ||||| Story highlights Operation pushed ISIS from their last known location in Iraq 
 
 The militant group once controlled more than 34,000 square miles of territory 
 
 (CNN) Iraqi forces have retaken the town of Rawa from ISIS, one of the militant group's last footholds in the country. 
 
 The Iraqi national flag was raised over Rawa around midday Friday, Iraq's Joint Operation Command (IJOC) said in a statement. 
 
 A spokesman for the command told CNN that engineers laid down a pontoon bridge across the Euphrates River around dawn to allow Iraqi forces to cross near the outskirts of the town. 
 
 Iraqi forces with @coalition support announce the liberation of #Rawa in #Anbar province, among the last populated areas in #Iraq held by #ISIS terrorists. Days of its phony "caliphate" are coming to an end. — Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) November 17, 2017 
 
 Located in Anbar province in the Euphrates valley, Rawa was the last known Iraqi town still held by ISIS militants. Recapturing it means ISIS has been defeated in all of the country's towns and cities, though pockets of resistance still exist and the group does control some territory in the deserts of western Iraq. 
 
 Haider Al-Abadi, the commander in chief of Iraq's armed forces, said in a statement the "liberation of Rawa district in mere hours reflects the great strength and power of our heroic armed forces and the successful planning for battles." ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Paul Wood met refugees who have fled to the Kurdish countryside 
 
 US President Barack Obama says his government is looking at "all options", including military action, to help Iraq fight Islamist militants. 
 
 But the White House also insisted it had no intention of sending ground troops. 
 
 The remarks came after the cities of Mosul and Tikrit fell to Sunni Islamist insurgents during a lightning advance. 
 
 The US has begun moving defence contractors working with the Iraqi military to safer areas. 
 
 "We can confirm that US citizens, under contract to the government of Iraq, in support of the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme in Iraq, are being temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area," state department spokesperson Jen Psaki said. 
 
 Several hundred were being evacuated from Balad air base to Baghdad, a US defence official told AFP. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Obama: "The US will do our part, but... it us up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems." 
 
 Led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the insurgents are believed to be planning to push further south to the capital, Baghdad, and regions dominated by Iraq's Shia Muslim majority, whom they regard as "infidels". 
 
 Unconfirmed reports on Thursday said Iraqi forces had launched air strikes on Mosul and Tikrit targeting the militants. 
 
 Correspondents say that if ISIS can hold Mosul and consolidate its presence there, it will have taken a giant step towards its goal of creating an Islamist emirate that straddles Iraq and Syria, where insurgents control a large swathe of territory. 
 
 Fears of ISIS sparking a wider Sunni uprising have increased with reports that former Baath Party members loyal to Saddam Hussein have joined forces with the jihadists. 
 
 One resident in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's former hometown, told the AP news agency that fighters raised posters of the former dictator after driving the army out. 
 
 The United Nations Security Council said on Thursday it unanimously supported Iraq's government and people in their "fight against terrorism". 
 
 Earlier it said the humanitarian situation around Mosul, from where up to 500,000 people have fled, was "dire and... worsening by the moment". 
 
 Analysis: Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor 
 
 If ISIS can hold Mosul and consolidate its presence there it will have taken a giant step towards its goal of creating an Islamist emirate that straddles Iraq and Syria. 
 
 It would be the most significant act by a jihadist group since al-Qaeda attacked the US on 11 September 2001. It could also lead to other changes on the borders Britain and France imposed on the Middle East a century ago, starting with break-up of Iraq on sectarian lines. 
 
 The success of ISIS can only make the turmoil in the Middle East worse. ISIS is an ultra extremist Sunni Muslim group. Its success will deepen the sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shias that is already the most dangerous fault line in the Middle East. 
 
 Iran, which is a majority Shia Muslim country, shares a border with Iraq. It has a direct line to Iraq's Shia Muslim Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, and close links with some Iraqi Shia militias. The Iranians could direct their proxies, and even their own special forces units, at ISIS. 
 
 That might end up further inflaming the anger of Iraqi Sunnis, who have already helped the advance of ISIS through Iraq. 
 
 US air strikes, if they happen, might do the same thing. Once again in the Middle East, the Americans have limited options. Its invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 helped create and strengthen jihadist groups. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iraq's former PM Ayad Allawi says the country could be facing a break-up as a result of the insurgency led by Islamist militants 
 
 Insurgent advance 
 
 "There will be some short-term immediate things that need to be done militarily," Mr Obama told reporters at the White House as he met Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. 
 
 "I don't rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in Iraq, or Syria for that matter." 
 
 White House spokesman Jay Carney subsequently added that President Obama was referring to not ruling out air strikes. "We are not contemplating ground troops," he said. 
 
 Iraq's ambassador to the US, Lukman Faily, earlier told the BBC this was the "most serious situation" faced by the country in recent years. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iraq state TV airs footage said to be airstrikes on the ISIS-held city of Mosul 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Iraqis gathered at the army's recruitment centre in Baghdad, after officials urged them to fight the militants 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Footage allegedly showing captured vehicles of Iraqi security forces with the ISIS flag in Mosul 
 
 A parliamentary vote to grant PM Maliki emergency powers was delayed earlier after MPs failed to turn up. 
 
 Just 128 out of the 325 MPs were present for the vote. 
 
 Correspondents say the failure of the Iraqi parliament to achieve a quorum to vote on emergency powers says much about the fragmented state of Iraqi politics. 
 
 In the north of the country, Kurdish forces have claimed control of the oil city of Kirkuk, saying government forces have fled. 
 
 The Kurds - seen as a bulwark against the Sunni Muslim insurgents - have also been locked for years in a dispute with Baghdad over Kirkuk, seeking to incorporate it into their own autonomous area. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Rami Ruhayem reports from Irbil in Kurdish-run northern Iraq, as an audio recording of ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani is released 
 
 They are clearly happy to fill the vacuum left in Kirkuk, an area they historically claim as theirs, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Kurdish-run Irbil. 
 
 Iraqi government forces slowed the insurgents' advance on Wednesday outside Samarra, a city just 110km (68 miles) north of Baghdad. 
 
 But reports have emerged of the rebels bypassing Samarra and seizing the town of Dhuluiya, 90km north-west of the capital. 
 
 Security in Baghdad has been stepped up after a video emerged of the militants threatening to march on the city. 
 
 ISIS in Iraq 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption An Islamist fighter near a burning Iraqi army Humvee in Tikrit 
 
 The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters, and grew out of an al-Qaeda-linked organisation in Iraq 
 
 ISIS has exploited the standoff between the Iraqi government and the minority Sunni Arab community, which complains that Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is monopolising power 
 
 It has already taken over Ramadi and Falluja, but taking over Mosul is its greatest achievement 
 
 The organisation is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an obscure figure regarded as a battlefield commander and tactician who was once the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, one of the groups that later became ISIS. 
 
 Critical test ahead for Iraq 
 
 Six things that went wrong for Iraq 
 
 How did Iraqi militants take over Mosul? 
 
 In pictures: Iraq cities attacked
– Iraq's Ministry of Defense says Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition have liberated the last Iraqi town held by the Islamic State group, per the AP. The ministry said in a statement Friday morning that Iraqi military units and local tribal fighters entered the western neighborhoods of Rawah on the Euphrates River in the western province of Anbar. Officials then announced that forces had taken control of the town; per the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, the Iraqi national flag was raised over the city by midday Friday, CNN reports. A command spokesman says engineers placed a pontoon bridge so that Iraqi forces could cross the Euphrates. ISIS fighters swept across Iraq's north and west in the summer of 2014, capturing Iraq's second largest city of Mosul and advancing to the edges of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Later that year the US began a campaign of airstrikes against the militants that fueled Iraqi territorial gains, allowing the military to retake Mosul in July of this year. Back in August, Defense Secretary James Mattis said, "ISIS is on the run and they have been shown to be unable to stand up to our team." Per CNN, there are still some pockets of resistance, with ISIS controlling certain territory in the deserts in the western part of the country, but it no longer controls any towns or cities.