Iraqi army launched offensive on ISIL's last stronghold

The Iraqi army has launched an attack on the city of Tal Afar, one of the last strongholds of the so-called Islamic State terrorists, Iraqi media report, according to the Patria agency.

Iraqi forces are currently carrying out airstrikes on the city, located 80 kilometers west of Mosul, preparing for an imminent ground assault.

The Iraqi army fully liberated Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, from the hands of Islamic State terrorists last month.

Before the war, Tal Afar was home to about 200,000 people and represents a Turkmen Shiite enclave in the Sunni province of Nineveh, which fell into the hands of ISIL terrorists in June 2014.

The Iraqi army is nearing its ultimate goal of liberating the entire country from ISIL terrorists, but large parts of Syria are still in the hands of the terrorists.