Denmark announces withdrawal of forces from Iraq as most of the areas fell to ISIS liberated

NewsBharati    18-May-2018
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Baghdad, May 18: Denmark on Thursday announced to withdraw its forces from Iraq as most areas once controlled by Islamic State have been liberated. Notably, the Islamic State terrorist organization is witnessing historic fall in the middle-east countries including Iraq and Syria as the US-led coalition armed forces continue to eradicate them from the two countries.

 

Denmark pulled its special forces from Iraq after participating in the US-led coalition against Islamic State since 2014 saying it was changing the mission of troops. The Defence Ministry of Denmark in a statement said, “As the vast majority of ISIL-controlled areas in Iraq are now freed, changes will be made to military action.” “Our special operations forces return home after a successful effort. Your Iraqi partner unit is now ready to stand on your own,” the statement added.

The Defence Ministry of Denmark while praising the contribution of its forces to the coalition’s war against ISIL in Iraq said, “Now we have reached a point where we can start the resettlement of our special operations forces because ISIL no longer has control over major areas in Iraq.”

The statement further said, “It is important to emphasize that the fight against ISIL has not yet ended”, adding that “the Danish side will continue to be engaged in the fight against ISIL in order to prevent the terrorist group from returning and to help the Iraqi security forces themselves to take care of security in their own country”.

In February this year, the United States began reducing the number of forces deployed in Iraq after the Iraqi authorities declared victory over Islamic State terrorist organization. The United States-led international coalition fighting Islamic State earlier estimated that less than 500 terrorists belonging to the hardline Sunni militant group remain in Iraq.

Interestingly, Iraq was affected due to self-proclaimed caliphate ISIS captured many important governorates. Over 80,000 foreigners from countries such as Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France and the Caucasus were recruited and traveled to Iraq between 2013 and 2016 to fight alongside ISIS.