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. “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. 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. (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. 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. 'Prepare yourself'

Hours before Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city, telling the population to take precautions. 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 Islamic State control, including Tal Afar, a city with a pre-war population of about 200,000. 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.
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.