In a separate tweet later, Mr Abadi said: “Our heroic armed forces have now secured the entire length of the Iraq-Syria border. We defeated Daesh through our unity and sacrifice for the nation. Long live Iraq and its people.” Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The US-led coalition that has been supporting the Iraqi forces against Islamic State welcomed the news in a tweet. “The Coalition congratulate the people of Iraq on their significant victory against #Daesh. We stand by them as they set the conditions for a secure and prosperous #futureiraq,” said the tweet. Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, fell in July after a gruelling nine-month campaign backed by a US-led coalition that saw much of the northern Iraqi city destroyed. Islamic State’s Syrian capital Raqqa also fell to a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition in September. Read more… http://ift.tt/2nILfHa
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