Tal Afar

The Turkish wives and children of Turkish Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Iraq are facing an obscure future, with many families in Turkey searching desperately to reach their relatives.

A total of 174 Turkish militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have surrendered to the Iraqi army, Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) and Peshmerga forces in Iraq after the liberation of Mosul and Tal Afar from the jihadist group.

Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive and is likely to be hiding in the Euphrates Valley, said Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend who commands coalition forces against the jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.

Turkey underlined the importance of bringing Tal Afar under the control of local people and the Iraqi army, not Shia militias, following the liberation of the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Iraqi forces have retaken almost all of Tal Afar, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) stronghold in the country's northwest, the Iraqi military said on Aug. 27.

Iraqi forces have retaken almost all of Tal Afar, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) stronghold in the country's northwest, the Iraqi military said in a statement on Aug. 27.
Fighting was ongoing in al-'Ayadiya, a small area just outside the city. Iraqi forces were waiting to retake the city's surrounding areas to declare a complete victory.
   

Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from 70 percent of Tal Afar, a stronghold of the militants in northwestern Iraq, including its central citadel neighborhood, officials and military commanders said on Aug. 26. 

Iraqi government forces broke through Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) lines inside Tal Afar on Aug. 25, and reached the old city center and the neighborhood around the Ottoman-era citadel, according to a military statement.

Iraqi forces on Aug. 22 recaptured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group the first two districts of jihadist bastion Tal Afar.  Iraqi troops reached the first urban areas on the third day of a multi-pronged operation, said a military commander.

Iraqi forces closed in Aug. 21 on Tal Afar on the second day of an offensive against the last major bastion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in the country's north, after seizing several villages around the city.