Iran felicitates Iraq on Tikrit liberation

Iran has congratulated the Iraqi government and people on the liberation of the strategic northern city of Tikrit from the ISIL terrorists.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that units of government forces, backed by Shia and Sunni volunteer forces, had managed to retake control of the city.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham congratulated Iraq’s army and popular and tribal forces in Salahuddin province for their courageous victory and for the cleansing of the city and other important areas in the province of Takfiri terrorists.

“The recent victories are considered a landmark in the process of fighting terrorism in the country and herald the cleansing of Iraq’s other areas in near future,” she said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has placed atop its agenda effective and unconditional support for the Iraqi government and people in confronting organized and Takfiri terrorism,” Afkham noted.

In his announcement, Abadi said Iraqi forces had raised the country’s national flag over the Salahuddin provincial government headquarters.

Tikrit had been seized by ISIL in June last year. The city’s recapture is crucial for the Iraqi army in its quest to take control of the country’s second-largest city, Mosul.

ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of the country’s northern city of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.

Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have succeeded in driving the ISIL terrorists out of some areas in Iraq.