Iraqi forces Thursday launched an assault on the last ISIL bastion in the country, along the border with Syria, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced.

“The heroic legions are advancing into the last den of terrorism in Iraq to liberate Al-Qaim, Rawa and the surrounding villages and hamlets,” Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said.

“They will all return to the arms of the motherland thanks to the determination and endurance of our fighting heroes,” he added.

Iraqi forces have retaken more than 90 per cent of the territory ISIL seized in the country in 2014, with the terrorists now confined to a stretch of the Euphrates Valley adjoining some of the last areas they still hold in Syria.

Source: Agencies