President Trump congratulated the U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces on Monday for wresting control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from the Islamic State.
“Today, Iraqi Security Forces, supported by the United States and the global coalition, liberated the city of Mosul from its long nightmare under the rule of ISIS,” Trump said in a statement. “We congratulate Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi Security Forces, and all Iraqis for their victory over terrorists who are the enemies of all civilized people.”
“We mourn the thousands of Iraqis brutally killed by ISIS and the millions of Iraqis who suffered at the hands of ISIS. We grieve with the Iraqi people for the loss of the heroic soldiers and Peshmerga who gave their lives to restore life to their country, and we honor their sacrifice. We in the United States and the global coalition are proud to stand with the Iraqi Security Forces and all those who made this moment of liberation possible,” Trump added.
Trump warned ISIS that its “days in Iraq and Syria are numbered.” He promised his administration “will continue to seek the total destruction of ISIS.”
The victory in Mosul took nearly nine months, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people and displacing almost a million others.
Mosul, the largest city in Iraq or Syria ever held by ISIS, is where the terrorist group declared its so-called “caliphate” three years ago.
ISIS still maintains control of other small cities and towns in Iraq. Last week, U.S.-backed forces began another critical mission, this one in Syria to take back control of Raqqa, the city that ISIS considers to be its capital.
