Al Jazeera | 20.08.2017
PM Haider al-Abadi announces ground operation to retake the northern city, telling ISIL fighters ’surrender, or die‘.
Iraqi forces have launched a ground offensive to retake a key ISIL-held area in the northern part of the country, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.
„You either surrender, or die“, Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the operation early on Sunday.
He was addressing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters, who have been in control of the city since 2014.