Abadi says Islamic State cannot hold new territories for “a few minutes”
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi while checking on the security troops in Mosul.
Speaking in a weekly press conference late Tuesday, Abadi said his military command were ready with “new military plans” to recapture remaining cities in Nineveh from Islamic State militants. “The current priority is to secure the Iraqi-Syrian borders,” the prime minister stated. He dared IS to “hold new cities, just for a few minutes”.
Abadi said most of IS attacks have been recently focused at desert areas, adding that “cities which the group claim it had targeted” were secure.
Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting, and claimed recently to control at least 70 percent of the western side of the city after a second phase of offensives launched in February.
After finishing the campaign in Mosul, Iraqi force will aim at neighboring Anbar once troops reach the common borders between both provinces, Abadi clarified, one day after his defense minister, Erfan al-Hayyali, said military operations to retake IS strongholds in western Anbar would commence once battles in Mosul conclude.