Iraqi army, tribal troops advance to last Islamic State haven in Iraq

A military source announced to Alsumaria News that forces from the 7th division and tribal troops from Anbar province headed Tuesday towards the city of Rawa (230 Km West of Ramadi) on Syrian borders, considered the last area held by Islamic State militants in Iraq to liberate it and end a three-year-old war. The source also said that the forces are backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aviation. Since October, Iraqi troops took over IS’s major bastions in Iraq: currently only Western Anbar’s town of Rawa remain in militants’ grip. IS members have frequently been accused of booby-trapping civilians’ houses to hinder assaulting troops, and of using civilians as human shields: it is believed that a few thousands of civilians in Rawa have been holding by militants. According to the United Nations statistics, the war against the Islamic State has displaced at least five million people since 2014 and a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq said that during October, excluding security members deaths, 114 Iraqi civilians were killed and 244 others were wounded as result of terrorism, violence and armed conflicts.