BAGHDAD: The operation to retake the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, from the Daesh group began Sunday morning, Iraq’s prime minister said.
Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets of Daesh-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in July in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city. The town, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Syrian border, sits along a major road that was once a key Daesh supply route.
“The city of Tal Afar will be liberated and will join all the liberated cities,” Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said in an address to the nation broadcast on state television early Sunday.
Al-Abadi said his message to Daesh was: “You either surrender or die.”
Iraq’s mostly Shiite militiamen largely stayed out of the operation to retake Mosul, a mostly Sunni city about 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the east, but have vowed to play a bigger role in the battle for Tal Afar, which was home to both Sunni and Shiite Turkmen before it fell to Daesh, a Sunni extremist group. The militias captured Tal Afar’s airport, on the outskirts of the town, last year.
Their participation in the coming offensive could heighten sectarian and regional tensions. The town’s ethnic Turkmen community maintained close ties to neighboring Turkey. Turkish officials have expressed concern that once territory is liberated from Daesh, Iraqi Kurdish or Shiite forces may push out Sunni Arabs or ethnic Turkmen.
A stepped up campaign of airstrikes and a troop buildup has already forced tens of thousands to flee Tal Afar, threatening to compound a humanitarian crisis sparked by the Mosul operation.
Some 49,000 people have fled the Tal Afar district since April, according to the United Nations. Nearly a million people remain displaced by the nine-month campaign to retake Mosul.
PM: Iraqi forces begin operation to retake Tal Afar from Daesh
PM: Iraqi forces begin operation to retake Tal Afar from Daesh
UK secures migrant return deal with Angola, Namibia; DRC faces visa curbs
LONDON: Angola and Namibia have agreed to accept the return of illegal migrants and criminals after the British government threatened visa penalties for countries refusing to cooperate, the UK Home Office said late on Saturday.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been stripped of fast-track visa services and preferential treatment for VIPs and decision-makers after failing to meet Britain’s requirements to improve cooperation, the Home Office said.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Britain could escalate measures to a complete halting of visas for the DRC unless “co-operation rapidly improves.”
“We expect countries to play by the rules. If one of their citizens has no right to be here, they must take them back,” the Home Secretary added.
The agreements mark the first major change under reforms announced last month to make refugee status temporary and speed up the deportation of those who arrive illegally in Britain.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK has “removed more than 50,000 people with no right to remain” since July last year, a 23 percent increase on the previous period, and instructed diplomats to make returns a top priority.
