Iraqi Forces Start Offensive to Retake Tal Afar From ISIS
As an ethnic Turkmen city whose Shiite residents had been killed or expelled, Tal Afar became caught up in the regional rivalry between Turkey, which has historical
and ethnic connections to the city, and Iran, the region’s pre-eminent Shiite Muslim power.
"The battle is near, and victory is coming." When the battle began last fall for Mosul, the largest city in either Iraq or Syria
that had fallen to the Islamic State, the fate of Tal Afar took on outsize importance because of the concerns of regional powers.
20, 2017
BAGHDAD — A month after liberating Mosul from the Islamic State, Iraqi forces began a new offensive
Sunday to retake Tal Afar, one of the last big cities in Iraq under control of the extremists.
As the operation for Mosul began, Iraqi Shiite militias loyal to Iran moved toward Tal Afar,
raising concerns of a sectarian blood bath and the possibility of intervention by Turkey.
As he has done frequently during the three-year military campaign against the Islamic State, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appeared on state television in the dark hours
— close to 3 a.m. Sunday, a time chosen to heighten the drama — wearing a black uniform in the style of Iraqi special forces to announce that the operation had begun.
On Saturday, Iraqi airplanes dropped leaflets over Tal Afar, telling residents
that security forces were moving toward them, and that their city would soon be rid of the "evil" of the Islamic State.