Iraq’s prime minister visited the city of Ramadi on Tuesday, a day after claiming its capture from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after a months-long siege by the armed group.
Haider al-Abadi arrived by helicopter with the province’s top military commander at the Anbar University complex in the city’s southern outskirts, military sources told the Reuters news agency.
Iraqi forces on Monday raised the national flag above the main government complex in Ramadi after days of deadly fighting against ISIL. But there were still pockets of resistance in and around the city, the army said. “The prime minister and the head of the armed forces Dr Haider al-Abadi visits the liberated city of Ramadi,” Abadi posted on his Twitter account.
Abadi congratulated the security forces who were still sweeping streets and buildings for roadside bombs, booby traps, and holed up fighters.
“2016 will be the year of the big and final victory, when [ISIL’s] presence in Iraq will be terminated,” Abadi said. “We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to [ISIL].”
