Iraq has formally declared its fight against Islamic State over after three years of heavy combat, although surviving militants are widely expected to launch a guerrilla war.
Isis has been driven from all the territory it once held inside Iraq, the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced in Baghdad on Saturday.
At the peak of its military power, the extremist group controlled nearly a third of the country, including Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.
The full length of the border between Iraq and Syria, which Isis fighters traversed freely for years, is also now held by Iraqi forces, a top military commander said. “All Iraqi lands are liberated from terrorist Daesh [Isis] gangs and our forces completely control the international Iraqi-Syrian border,” Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah said.
The slow and extremely bloody battle against Isis began in the summer of 2014, soon after a few thousand of the group’s fighters stunned Iraq and the world by seizing Mosul. The Iraqi military fled the city, leaving their weapons and equipment to Isis, and the city’s riches to bolster its coffers. For three years it was a financial and political hub for the extremists’ self-declared caliphate.
Iraqi forces pushed back against the group city by city, finally retaking Mosul this summer. Abadi had declared victory over Isis then, but battles continued in a string of smaller towns and through swaths of surrounding desert.
The US-led coalition that has backed the ground war with airstrikes offered congratulations and promised continued support:
The Coalition congratulate the people of Iraq on their significant victory against #Daesh. We stand by them as they set the conditions for a secure and prosperous #futureiraq pic.twitter.com/pJlGImT1Yu
— The Global Coalition (@coalition) December 9, 2017
Theresa May, also congratulated her Iraqi counterpart, but warned that the extremist group was yet to be defeated.
“This signals a new chapter towards a more peaceful, prosperous country,” the British prime minister said. “We must be clear however, that whilst Daesh (Isis) is failing, they are not yet defeated. They still pose a threat to Iraq, including from over the Syrian border.”
May said she was proud of the UK effort in standing alongside Iraq as part of the global coalition.
“The UK ... has played a leading role in supporting the Iraqi security forces, including the armed forces and the Peshmerga. UK aircraft have launched over 1,350 airstrikes in Iraq and have trained over 60,000 members of the Iraqi security forces.
“UK aid provides a vital lifeline to millions of Iraqis with emergency food, shelter, medical care and clean water. We are now supporting the government of Iraq to lay the foundations for an economy that meets the aspirations of all Iraqis.”
Isis is likely to prove a problem for Iraqi authorities for many years to come. The group grew out of an insurgent movement, and was preparing for a return to guerrilla tactics as its territory shrank this summer.
Large numbers of Isis fighters are thought to have retreated into the countryside or formed sleeper cells among civilian populations. Soon after Abadi’s announcement, an Iraqi news agency reported that a group of suicide bombers had been found in a tunnel in the city of Hawija.
Iraq must also now reckon with the daunting task of reconstruction in areas once held by Isis. The fighting caused terrible physical damage to towns and infrastructure, and particularly around Mosul, Isis rule ripped apart communities that had been famous for their diversity.
About 3 million Iraqis are still displaced, and the distrust sown between former neighbours and friends will be hard to overcome.