{"id":42107,"date":"2017-08-24T15:15:17","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T15:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/24\/iraqi-forces-close-in-on-tal-afar\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:48:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:48:52","slug":"iraqi-forces-close-in-on-tal-afar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/24\/iraqi-forces-close-in-on-tal-afar\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi forces close in on Tal Afar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">HALABIYAH, Iraq \u2014 Iraqi forces made significant progress as they closed in on the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, the U.S.-led coalition and an Iraqi military spokesman said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a coalition spokesman, told The Associated Press that Iraqi forces have retaken some 250 square kilometers (95 square miles) from the extremist group since the operation began early Sunday, though they have not yet pushed into the town itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs we get into the urban areas \u2014 as we saw in Mosul and Raqqa \u2014 that\u2019s where we\u2019ll see the pace slow down, that\u2019s where (ISIS) have placed their defenses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dozens of civilians fled the area. Sadia Sajet, from Tal Afar, said she walked for over a day to cross the front line and reach Iraqi forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe stayed overnight by the river. There were a lot of dead bodies there. The smell was horrible,\u201d she said. \u201cWe slept there and then started walking again at four in the morning. And we walked until we arrived here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sajet said two other women fleeing with her died of exhaustion while attempting to make the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spokesman for the Joint Military Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, said troops recaptured six villages located a few kilometers from the urban areas of Tal Afar. He said militants deployed suicide car bombers, road side bombs and mortars to slow down the advancing troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Citing intelligence, Rasool estimated the number of ISIS militants inside the town at around 2,000 fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S.-backed Iraqi forces drove ISIS from Mosul last month after a grueling, nine-month campaign to retake the country\u2019s second largest city. U.S.-allied forces are currently battling IS in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the extremists\u2019 de facto capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dillon said most of the territory retaken in the operation has been in the Kisik junction area to the east of the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-85277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg 2500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17236436244209-Copy.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State grou, right, speaks during a joint press conference with Gen. Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman in the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017.  (Karim Kadim\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tal Afar, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Syrian border, is in one of the last pockets of ISIS-held territory in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some 49,000 people have fled the Tal Afar district since April, according to the United Nations, sparking concern the displaced will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis that erupted during the Mosul operation. Nearly a million people remain displaced by the campaign to retake Mosul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iraqi forces made significant progress as they closed in on the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, the U.S.-led coalition and an Iraqi military spokesman said Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":53300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4931],"class_list":["post-42107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VDWOQVIIV5DVRILEC3PJGCLVCY","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/24\/iraqi-forces-close-in-on-tal-afar\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - 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