Iraqi forces launch offensive on last Daesh stronghold
Iraqi soldiers backed by a Sunni Arab militia launched the onslaught on the border town of Rawa.
Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Saturday to capture Rawa, the last remaining town under Daesh control, leaving the group's self-proclaimed caliphate on the verge of complete defeat.
The capture of the town would mark the end of the militant group's era of territorial rule over a so-called caliphate that it proclaimed in 2014 across vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Syrian regime forces declared victory over Daesh on Thursday, after seizing the last substantial town on the border with Iraq.
The regime and its allies were still fighting Daesh militants in desert areas near Albu Kamal, the last town the group had held in Syria.
Two Iraqi infantry divisions and Sunni tribal forces are participating in the offensive to recapture the small town of Rawa and its surrounding areas along the border with Syria, the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
Last week, Iraqi forces recaptured the larger town of Al Qaim, in what Prime Minister Haider al Abadi called "record time," leaving just a few small pockets of land in Daesh's hands.
Iraq has been carrying out its final campaign to crush the Daesh while also mounting a military offensive in the north against the Kurdish Regional Government who held an independence referendum in September.