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| Hawija: Iraqi army says it has recaptured one of last Isis enclaves | Hawija: Iraqi army says it has recaptured one of last Isis enclaves |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Iraqi army says its forces have captured the town of Hawija and the surrounding area from Islamic State, though some fighting still raged in a pocket to the north and east of the town where the militants were surrounded. | The Iraqi army says its forces have captured the town of Hawija and the surrounding area from Islamic State, though some fighting still raged in a pocket to the north and east of the town where the militants were surrounded. |
| Hawija is the militants’ last stronghold in northern Iraq. If confirmed, its capture will mean the only area that remains under control of Isis in Iraq will be a stretch alongside the western border with Syria. Hawija is near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk. | Hawija is the militants’ last stronghold in northern Iraq. If confirmed, its capture will mean the only area that remains under control of Isis in Iraq will be a stretch alongside the western border with Syria. Hawija is near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk. |
| “The army’s 9th armoured division, the Federal Police, the Emergency Response division and … Popular Mobilisation liberated Hawija,” said the joint operations commander, Lt Gen Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah. | “The army’s 9th armoured division, the Federal Police, the Emergency Response division and … Popular Mobilisation liberated Hawija,” said the joint operations commander, Lt Gen Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah. |
| The offensive on Hawija was carried out by US-backed Iraqi government troops and Iranian-trained and armed Shia paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation. | The offensive on Hawija was carried out by US-backed Iraqi government troops and Iranian-trained and armed Shia paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation. |
| The capture of Hawija brings them into direct contact with Kurdish peshmerga fighters who control Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). | The capture of Hawija brings them into direct contact with Kurdish peshmerga fighters who control Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). |
| Kirkuk became a flashpoint last month when the KRG included the city in a referendum on Kurdish independence in northern Iraq. | |
| Iraq launched its offensive on 21 September to dislodge Isis from the Hawija area, where up to 78,000 people were estimated to be trapped, according to the UN. | Iraq launched its offensive on 21 September to dislodge Isis from the Hawija area, where up to 78,000 people were estimated to be trapped, according to the UN. |
| The militants continue to control the border town of al-Qaim and the region surrounding it. They also hold parts of the Syrian side of the border, but the area under their control is shrinking as they retreat in the face of two different sets of hostile forces – a US-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shia militias backed by Iran and Russia. | The militants continue to control the border town of al-Qaim and the region surrounding it. They also hold parts of the Syrian side of the border, but the area under their control is shrinking as they retreat in the face of two different sets of hostile forces – a US-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shia militias backed by Iran and Russia. |
| Isis’s cross-border “caliphate” collapsed in July, when US-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, in a nine-month battle. | Isis’s cross-border “caliphate” collapsed in July, when US-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, in a nine-month battle. |
| Last week the group released an audio recording of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who declared the caliphate from Mosul in mid-2014, indicating he was alive, after several reports he had been killed. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite the setbacks. | Last week the group released an audio recording of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who declared the caliphate from Mosul in mid-2014, indicating he was alive, after several reports he had been killed. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite the setbacks. |