Iraqi PM Vows Defeat of ISIL in 2016 after Ramadi Recapture

Iraqi PM Vows Defeat of ISIL in 2016 after Ramadi Recapture

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Monday that the coming year would see his forces defeat the ISIL terrorist group, after the Army retook Ramadi in a major victory since the terrorists attacked the Arab country 18 months ago.

Iraqi military forces flew the national flag above the main government complex in Ramadi earlier in the day, declaring they had recaptured the city, a provincial capital west of Baghdad, which fell to ISIL in May.

“2016 will be the year of the big and final victory, when Daesh’s presence in Iraq will be terminated,” Abadi said in a speech broadcast on state television, using an Arabic acronym for the ISIL terrorist group, also known as ISIS.

“We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh,” he added.

Mosul, northern Iraq’s main city, is by far the largest population center in the self-proclaimed caliphate that ISIL rules in Iraq and Syria, Reuters reported.