Iraqi PM says ISIS will be ‘completely defeated’ in country this year

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) will be completely defeated in Iraq this year, Iraqi state television quoted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as saying on Tuesday. The militant group’s cross-border “caliphate” effectively collapsed in July, when US-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq. The last territory IS still holds in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria, following the fall of the town of Hawija and surrounding areas on October 5 in an offensive by US-backed Iraqi forces, Reuters said.