Iraq forces launch fresh offensive to retake Tal Afar from ISIS

Baghdad [Iraq], August 20 (ANI): Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday announced the launch of a ground offensive by Iraqi forces to retake town of Tal Afar , a key Northern Iraqi bastion of the ISIS.

"I say to Daesh, you have no choice but to surrender or die," Adabi said in a pre-dawn televised address, wearing his preferred black military fatigues announcing the operation early on Sunday.

The announcement to reclaim Tal Afar comes a month after Iraqi forces, supported by U.S.-led airstrikes, declared victory in Mosul in a major blow to ISIS.

"We have won all our battles, and Daesh have always lost," he said, telling the country's troops that "the entire world is with you."

Tal Afar is west of Mosul and about 150km east of the Syrian border along, a key ISIL supply route. It was cut off from the rest of ISIL-held territory in June, Washington Post reported.

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

After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Tal Afar was one of the first places in the country to suffer a deadly wave of sectarian killings, and hosted an active al-Qaeda insurgency.(ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI