Displaced Iraqis sit near barbed wire as Iraqi government forces supported by fighters from the Abbas Brigade, which fight under the umbrella of the Shiite popular mobilisation units, advance in village of Badush some 15 kilometres northwest of Mosul during the ongoing battle to retake the city's west from Islamic State extremists on March 7, 2017. PHOTO: AFP
“I will not hesitate to strike terrorist sites in neighbouring countries, if they threaten the security of Iraq,” Abadi said in a speech in north Iraq, footage of which was posted online. Iraqi forces are fighting to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group, but the militants also hold significant territory in neighbouring Syria.
US-backed Iraqi forces launch fresh push toward Mosul old city center
Abadi announced Iraqi strikes against IS near the border in Syria that were believed to be the first of their kind by Baghdad's forces. Emerging from the chaos of the civil war in neighbouring Syria, IS seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014, declaring its ‘Islamic caliphate’ and committing widespread atrocities.
Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and other support have since regained much of the territory they lost to the extremists.
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