Popular Forces Win Back Control of All Tal Afar Gateways from ISIL

Rasa - All gateways and passages leading to Tal Afar have been taken back by Hashd al-Sha'abi (Iraqi popular forces), a prominent Iraqi security analyst said.

News ID: 427725

Date: 27 February 2017 - 20:35

RNA - "The Hashd al-Sha'abi forces have liberated all gateways and passages of Tal Afar region in Western Mosul and have imposed full control over them," Ahmad al-Sharifi told FNA on Monday.

He said that the achievement was made in the sixth phase of Hashd al-Sha'abi operations after liberating several strategic and important villages and regions.

Sharifi also underlined that the Iraqi forces are preparing for a major battle against the ISIL to fully regain control of the Tal Afar region.

Earlier today, a local source in Nineveh Province revealed that the ISIL terror group has withdrawn its last main headquarters in Central Tal Afar, West of Mosul, while pointed out that the group besieged a residential neighborhood in the district after the escape of three prisoners.

The source in the Iraqi military said the ISIL group closed its last main headquarters, known as the black building in Tal Afar District, which had been under ISIL control, after the terror group took over the district in 2014, Al Sumariya reported.

“The ISIL group also besieged a residential neighborhood in the Eastern vicinity of Tal Afar District, after the escape of three prisoners from a detention center belonging to the group,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

The ISIL retreat from its strategic bases in Tal Afar comes at the time that Iraqi security forces continue liberating the remaining areas held by the terror group in the city of Mosul, after inflicting heavy human and material losses on the group.

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