BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar on Sunday, their next objective in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

“You either surrender, or die,” Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the jihadists.

A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni Muslim insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles (80 km) west of Mosul in Iraq’s far north, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi’ite Muslims after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and it has produced some of Islamic State’s most senior commanders.

The city was cut off from the rest of Islamic State-held territory in June. It is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi’ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

Hours before Abadi’s announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city advising the population to take precautions. “Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing,” the leaflets read.

About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in Tal Afar, according to U.S. and Iraqi military commanders.

They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and by the lack of fresh supplies.

“Intelligence gathered shows clearly that the remaining fighters are mainly foreign and Arab nationals with their families and that means they will fight until the last breath,” Colonel Kareem al-Lami, from the Iraqi army’s 9th Division, told Reuters.

AIR STRIKES

Islamic State’s “caliphate”, proclaimed in swathes of northern and western Iraq taken in a shock 2014 offensive, in effect collapsed last month when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces recaptured the militants’ capital in Iraq, the major city of Mosul, after a nine-month campaign.

But parts of Iraq and Syria remain under Islamic State control, including Tal Afar, a city with a pre-war population of about 200,000.

The main forces taking part in the offensive are the Iraqi army, air force, Federal Police and the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), who began encircling the city on Sunday.

The Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), some of whom are trained and armed by Iran, confirmed they are also taking part in the battle. Their involvement is likely to worry Turkey, which claims an affinity with the area’s predominantly ethnic Turkmen population.

Five villages surrounding Tal Afar were retaken by Iraqi Forces and the PMF on the first day of the offensive.

The U.S.-led coalition said in recent days that it had carried out dozens of air strikes on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centers.

Iraqi army fire against Islamic State militants on the outskirts of Tal afar , Iraq , August 20, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

As the campaign got under way, the U.S.-led coalition carried out dozens of strikes in support of Iraqi forces as they advanced on the outskirts of Tal Afar, U.S. officials said.

Only a small portion of the strikes had been planned in advance, while the rest targeted Islamic State fighters emerging during the offensive, they said.

U.S. commanders say Tal Afar’s complicated geography, with ridge lines around city that could provide shooting positions for Islamic State fighters, will heighten the need for overhead imagery.

“We clearly need to be in position to ensure that we are providing the eyes on the other side of the hill for the Iraqis,” Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigian, the top U.S. Air Force commander in the Middle East, told Reuters.

The capture of Tal Afar would represent another major victory for Iraq.

“The (Iraqi) operation to liberate Tal Afar is another important fight that must be won to ensure the country and its citizens are finally free of ISIS (Islamic State),” said Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein, who was visiting Iraq on Sunday, told a small group of U.S. airmen at al Asad Air Base that Iraq’s steady progress in the war against Islamic State was a reason to be hopeful.

“Most of us have been fighting over here for most of our adult lives,” Goldfein said. “But here’s what’s interesting: What you’re doing in Iraq is probably the brightest spot in the region, because this is the one place (where you) have a country that’s taking back its country. And they’re leading the war.”

WIDE STREETS

Islamic State, in a statement published on the group’s Amaq news agency on Sunday, claimed to have successfully targeted several vehicles belonging to Shi’ite militia groups to the east and west of Tal Afar,

Lami said Tal Afar’s wide streets would allow tanks and armored vehicles easy passage. Only one part of Tal Afar, Sarai, is comparable to Mosul’s Old City, where Iraqi troops were forced to advance on foot through narrow streets in a battle that resulted in the near total destruction of the historic district.

Preserving the lives of civilians during the campaign remains a priority, Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told al-Iraqiya TV on Sunday.

Waves of civilians have fled the city and surrounding villages under cover of darkness over the past weeks, although several thousand are estimated to remain, threatened with death by the militants who have held a tight grip there since 2014.

“Thousands of people are fleeing Tal Afar for safety,” said Lise Grande, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, adding that families are “arriving exhausted and dehydrated”.

Residents who left Tal Afar last week told Reuters the militants themselves looked exhausted.

Slideshow (15 Images)

“(Fighters) have been using tunnels to move from place to place to avoid air strikes,” said 60-year-old Haj Mahmoud, a retired teacher. “Their faces looked desperate and broken.”

The United Nations International Organization for Migration estimates that between 10,000 to 40,000 people are left in Tal Afar and surrounding villages.</s>Iraqi forces have launched a ground offensive to retake a key area held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in the northern part of the country, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

"You either surrender, or die", Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the operation early on Sunday.

He was addressing ISIL fighters, who have been in control of the city since 2014.

Tal Afar and the surrounding area are among the last pockets of ISIL-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in Mosul, the country's second-largest city.

Iraqi officials believe there are between 1,400 and 1,600 ISIL fighters in the Tal Afar area, including many foreign fighters, according to Iraqi Brigadier General Yahia Rasool who spoke through an interpreter on Saturday.

"I don't think it will be tougher than the battle of Mosul," he told reporters.

A US-led coalition is providing air support to the Iraqi troops. In recent days, it has been carrying out dozens of air attacks on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centres.

Tal Afar is west of Mosul and about 150km east of the Syrian border, sitting along a major road that was a key ISIL supply route.

The town had a population of about 200,000 before it fell to ISIL in 2014. The UN estimates that between 10,000 to 40,000 people are left in Tal Afar and surrounding villages.

'Prepare yourself'

Hours before Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city, telling the population to take precautions.

"Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent, and victory is coming," they read.

Matthew Glanville, a military analyst who had formerly advised the Iraqi government, said ISIL has "no hope of winning this battle".

"Their aim will be to draw out the battle as long as possible and inflict maximum casualties on the Iraqi government," he said, adding that fighters may use improvised bombs and use civilians as hostages to slow the battle.

Retired US General Mark Kimmitt said that while retaking Tal Afar would be an "important milestone", it would not mean final days for ISIL.

"We're not looking at the final days of ISIS, either in Iraq or in Syria, or outside of those countries," Kimmitt told Al Jazeera. "It still remains a very, very potent force, not only in the self-proclaimed caliphate, but we continue to see ISIS-inspired attacks in places such as Barcelona and elsewhere."

READ MORE: ISIL's smouldering footprint in Qayyara

Thousands of Iraqis have fled to Iraq's Kurdish region as preparations of the offensive continued.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Saturday that refugees near the northern city of Tal Afar were facing harsh conditions and were being stopped by authorities to the east of Mosul and the Kurdish areas as they tried to flee the fighting.

"It's very hard for them to move through," Melany Markham, a spokeswoman for the humanitarian group, told Al Jazeera, adding that one transit site was already at full capacity, and could not take more refugees.

She said that temperatures in the height of summer of between 45 and 50 degrees Celcius make journeys even more challenging.

Markham said that while their transit site in Hammam al-Alil is full, other camps such as in Khazar, west of the Kurdish city of Erbil, could accommodate up to 40,000 refugees.

An estimated 50,000 people have fled the areas surrounding Tal Afar since April, and at least 50,000 more could flee in the coming days and weeks, according to aid groups.

That number is in addition to the estimated one million refugees who have fled Mosul.</s>ERBIL, Iraq: Iraqi security forces launched on Sunday an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

"You either surrender, or die," Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants.

A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles (80 km) west of Mosul, was cut off from the rest of the Islamic State-held territory in June.

The city is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi'ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to U.S. and Iraqi military commanders.

They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and by the lack of fresh supplies.

Hours before Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city telling the population to take their precautions. "Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing," they read.

Islamic State's self-proclaimed "caliphate" effectively collapsed last month, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign.

But parts of Iraq and Syria remain under its control, including Tal Afar, a city with a pre-war population of about 200,000.

Tal Afar experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Islamic State's most senior commanders.

Waves of civilians have fled the city and surrounding villages under cover of darkness over the past weeks, although several thousand are estimated to remain, threatened with death by the militants who have held a tight grip there since 2014.

Residents who left Tal Afar last week told Reuters the militants looked exhausted.

"(Fighters) have been using tunnels to move from place to place to avoid air strikes," said 60-year-old Haj Mahmoud, a retired teacher. "Their faces looked desperate and broken."

The main forces taking part in the offensive are the Iraqi army, Federal Police and the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), Iraqi commanders told Reuters.

Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), some of which are trained and armed by Iran, said they will also take part in the battle. Their involvement is likely to worry Turkey, which claims an affinity with the area's predominantly ethnic Turkmen

The U.S.-led coalition said over the past days it had carried out dozens of air strikes on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centers, in preparation for the ground assault.

"Intelligence gathered shows clearly that the remaining fighters are mainly foreign and Arab nationals with their families and that means they will fight until the last breath,"

Colonel Kareem al-Lami, from the Iraqi army's 9th Division, told Reuters earlier this week.

But Lami said Tal Afar's open terrain and wide streets will allow tanks and armored vehicles easy passage. Only one part of Tal Afar, Sarai, is comparable to Mosul's Old City, where Iraqi troops were forced to advance on foot through narrow streets moving house-to-house in a battle that resulted in the near total destruction of the historic district.

The United Nation's International Organisation for Migration (IOM), estimates that about 10,000 to 40,000 people are left in Tal Afar and surrounding villages. Aid groups say they are not expecting a huge civilian exodus as most the city's former residents have already left.</s>BAGHDAD, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces launched on Sunday an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

"You either surrender, or die," Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants.

A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles (80 km) west of Mosul, was cut off from the rest of the Islamic State-held territory in June.

The city is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi'ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to U.S. and Iraqi military commanders.

Islamic State's self-proclaimed "caliphate" effectively collapsed last month, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)</s>Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says his US-backed forces have begun the fight to take back the city of Tal Afar from Islamic State militants.

Iraqi security forces have launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the US-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says.

"You either surrender, or die," Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants.

A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni insurgents, Tal Afar, 80km west of Mosul, was cut off from the rest of the Islamic State-held territory in June.

The city is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi'ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

About 2000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to US and Iraqi military commanders.

Islamic State's self-proclaimed "caliphate" effectively collapsed last month, when US-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign.</s>Iraqi security forces launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar on Sunday, their next objective in the US-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

 “You either surrender, or die,” Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants.

 A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni Muslim insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles west of Mosul, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi’ites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Islamic State’s most senior commanders.

 The city was cut off from the rest of Islamic State-held territory in June. It is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi’ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

 Hours before Abadi’s announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city telling the population to take precautions. “Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing,” the leaflets read.

 About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to U.S. and Iraqi military commanders.

 They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and by the lack of fresh supplies.

 “Intelligence gathered shows clearly that the remaining fighters are mainly foreign and Arab nationals with their families and that means they will fight until the last breath,” Colonel Kareem al-Lami, from the Iraqi army’s 9th Division, told Reuters.

 Islamic State’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” in effect collapsed last month, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants’ capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign.

 But parts of Iraq and Syria remain under Islamic State control, including Tal Afar, a city with a pre-war population of about 200,000.

 The main forces taking part in the offensive are the Iraqi army, air force, Federal Police, and the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service, who began encircling the city on Sunday.

 The Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces, some of whom are trained and armed by Iran, confirmed they are also taking part in the battle. Their involvement is likely to worry Turkey, which claims an affinity with the area’s predominantly ethnic Turkmen population. The US-led coalition said that in recent days it has carried out dozens of air strikes on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centers. Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigian, the top U.S. Air Force commander in the Middle East, told Reuters he expected US air support to remain steady as the Iraqis initiate their advance, after two weeks or so that have averaged about 10-15 strikes around the city. — Reuters</s>Iraq: Islamic State militants warned 'surrender or die' as battle to take back Tal Afar begins

Iraqi security forces have launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar — their next objective in the US-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants.

Addressing the militants in a televised speech announcing the offensive, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said:

IS's self-proclaimed "caliphate" in effect collapsed last month, when US-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq — Mosul — after a nine-month campaign.

But parts of Iraq and Syria remain under IS control, including Tal Afar.

The longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni Muslim insurgents, 80 kilometres west of Mosul, has experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of IS's most senior commanders.

The city was cut off from the rest of IS-held territory in June.

It is surrounded by Iraqi Government troops and Shiite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

Hours before Mr Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city telling the population to take precautions.

Preserving the lives of civilians during the campaign remains a priority, Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told al-Iraqiya TV.

Waves of civilians have fled the city and surrounding villages under cover of darkness over the past weeks, although several thousand are estimated to remain, threatened with death by the militants who have held a tight grip there since 2014.

There are between 10,000 to 40,000 people left in the city, which had a pre-war population of about 200,000, the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated.

'Exhausted' militants 'will fight until last breath'

About 2,000 militants remain in Tal Afar, US and Iraqi military commanders said.

They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and by the lack of fresh supplies.

"Intelligence gathered shows clearly that the remaining fighters are mainly foreign and Arab nationals with their families, and that means they will fight until the last breath," Colonel Kareem al-Lami, from the Iraqi army's 9th Division, said.

Residents who left Tal Afar last week said the militants looked tired.

"[Fighters] have been using tunnels to move from place to place to avoid air strikes," said 60-year-old Haj Mahmoud, a retired teacher.

The US-led coalition said, in recent days, it has carried out dozens of air strikes on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centres.

The main forces taking part in the offensive are the Iraqi army, air force, Federal Police, and the elite US-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS).

The Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) confirmed they are also taking part in the battle.</s>PM Haider al-Abadi announces ground operation to retake the northern city, telling ISIL fighters 'surrender, or die'.

Iraqi forces have launched a ground offensive to retake a key ISIL-held area in the northern part of the country, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

"You either surrender, or die", Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the operation early on Sunday.

He was addressing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters, who have been in control of the city since 2014.

Tal Afar and the surrounding area are among the last pockets of ISIL-held territory in Iraq, after victory was declared in Mosul, the country's second-largest city.

US-led coalition air strikes have been started targeting ISIL fighters in the city, just one month after securing victory in Mosul.

Tal Afar is west of Mosul and about 150km east of the Syrian border, sitting along a major road that was a key ISIL supply route.

It was cut off from the rest of ISIL-held territory in June.

Hours before Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi air force droped leaflets over the city, telling the population to take precautions.

"Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming," they read.

Iraqi officials believe there are between 1,400 and 1,600 ISIL fighters in the Tal Afar area, including many foreign fighters, according to Iraqi Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasool who spoke through an interpreter on Saturday.

"I don't think it will be tougher than the battle of Mosul, taking into consideration the experience we got in Mosul," he told reporters.

Thousands of Iraqis have fled to Iraq's Kurdish region as preparations of the offensive continued.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Saturday that refugees near the northern city of Tal Afar were faced with harsh conditions, and were stopped by authorities in east of Mosul and Kurdish areas as they tried to flee the fighting.

"It's very hard for them to move through," Melany Markham, a spokesman of the humanitarian group, said, adding that one transit site was already at full capacity, and could not take more refugees.

She said that temperatures in the height of summer of between 45 and 50 degrees Celcius make journeys even more challenging.

Markham said that while their transit site in Hammam al-Alil is full, other camps such as in Khazar, west of the Kurdish city of Erbil, could accommodate up to 40,000 refugees.

An estimated 50,000 people have fled the areas surrounding Tal Afar since April, and at least 50,000 more could flee in the coming days and weeks, according to aid groups.

That number is in addition to the estimated one million refugees who have fled Mosul.</s>Iraq starts operations to take back Tal Afar from IS 

 



Moreover, the city is surrounded by Iraqi government forces and Shi'ite volunteers in the south and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.



Meanwhile, almost 2.000 batle-hardened militants remain in the city, as proclaimed U.S. and Iraqi military commanders.



Additionally, they are projected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been tired by months of combat.

 (MENAFN) Iraqi forces launched an offensive in order to take back the city of Tal Afar; their next objective in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat IS militants.Moreover, the city is surrounded by Iraqi government forces and Shi'ite volunteers in the south and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.Meanwhile, almost 2.000 batle-hardened militants remain in the city, as proclaimed U.S. and Iraqi military commanders.Additionally, they are projected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been tired by months of combat.</s>Iraqi security forces on Sunday launched an offensive to take control of the city of Tal Afar back from the Islamic State group, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the operation, which comes a month after the country’s troops freed Mosul from the grip of the militant group.

“I am telling Daesh [the Islamic State] that there is no choice other than to leave or be killed,” he said in a televised speech. “We have won all our battles, and Daesh have always lost.”

Tal Afar, located around 70 km from Mosul, is a stronghold of Sunni militants. The Islamic State had captured the city in 2014.

On July 9, Abaidi had declared a victory for its troops and Iraqis in Mosul over the terrorist outfit. It had seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in June 2014.

On October 17, 2016, Iraqi forces backed by a United States-led coalition had launched a major offensive to retake Mosul. More than a million people have been killed, thousands of civilians have been displaced and large parts of the city destroyed in the past nine months of fighting.

The military campaign was seen as Iraq’s biggest since US forces left its soil in 2011.
Iraqi security forces, along with Shi'ite volunteers and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, launch a ground offensive to take the city of Tal Afar back from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. The city has been isolated from the rest of the ISIL-held territory since the recent Mosul liberation.