Iraqi PM says troops retook Anbar’s Qaim in “record time”
Iraqi Army Aviation.
“The commander in-chief of armed forces Haidar al-Abadi congratulates Iraqis on liberation of Qaim in record time,” a brief statement by Abadi’s office said on Friday.
Congratulations made by Abadi came after the Joint Operations Command’s War Media Cell announced retaking Qaim earlier on Friday.
Iraqi troops invaded, early today, the center of Qaim and other districts.
Abadi promised, on Tuesday, the liberation of Qaim within “few days”.
Many IS militants reportedly fled Qaim heading to al-BuKamal in Syria, after several leaders ran away and were killed in airstrikes by the Iraqi and U.S.-Coalition jets.
Operations were launched, late October, to liberate Qaim and Rawa towns.
Each of Qaim and Rawa have been held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”.
Islamic State members are believed to be holding tens of thousands of civilians in their western Anbar havens as future human shields, having killed hundreds for attempting to escape.
Iraqi forces have managed, so far, to retake Mosul, the group’s former capital, the town of Tal Afar, west of Nineveh, Kirkuk’s town of Hawija and Anbar’s Annah.