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Iraq’s Prime Minister Says ISIS Will be Defeated ‘Within Weeks’

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    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Mar 27, 2017

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al Abadi has said that Iraq’s military will defeat Islamic State forces “within weeks,” but that it will take longer to truly eradicate the jihadists’ presence in the Middle East.

“We are defeating them militarily,” al Abadi told “Fox News Sunday.” “As a terrorist organization … they will try. So that's where we need the efforts of others. Flush them out of Syria and other places.”

The Islamic State forces captured many Iraqi cities in 2014 and drove thousands of people from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are currently still trapped within Mosul, as ChristianHeadlines.com reported last week.

Although the Islamic State has continued to lose ground over the past year, defeating them completely has proved to be a drawn-out process.

Fox News reports that earlier this year, Iraqi forces, along with a U.S.-led international coalition, drove Islamic State fighters from eastern Mosul, but now the battle continues in the western parts of the city.

President Trump has promised to increase the effort to defeat Islamic State fighters. Additionally, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently met with al Abadi and other foreign officials to discuss new ideas for defeating the Islamic State in Mosul.

 

Photo: Families flee as Iraqi forces advance into Islamic State controlled west Mosul, part of the offensive to retake the city some two years after it fell to Islamic State, March 4, 2017. Iraqi forces have encountered stiff resistance with improvised explosives, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance.

Photo courtesy: Martyn Aim/Getty Images

Publication date: March 27, 2017