Over 80 displaced families return back to homes in Anbar
A displaced Iraqi man who fled from clashes, carries children in western Mosul, Iraq, June 3, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
“81 displaced families returned back from al-Amiriya camps back to their regions in Ramadi, Ankour, al-Hasa and Falluja,” the department said in a statement.
On Friday, Fahd al-Rashed, a member of Anbar provincial council, told BasNews website that rate of destruction exceeds 70 percent in the liberated regions of Rawa and Qaim, with a high rate of destruction in Annah, in west of Anbar.
Earlier in November, Iraqi forces recaptured Anbar’s western town of Rawa, the very last bastion under Islamic State control. However, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said that his country has defeated Islamic State over the military level, but will declare final victory after desert areas are purged of militants.
Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasool, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command said in remarks on Friday that the second phase of operations to clear borders near Syria from Islamic State militants will launch soon. An area of 14,000 out of 29,000 square kilometers in the desert has been cleared by IS militants.
Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been fighting since October 2016 to retake territories Islamic State had occupied.