Battle of Tal Afar (2017)

Battle of Tal Afar (2017)
Part of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) and the American-led intervention in Iraq
Date 20 August – 2 September 2017 (1 week and 6 days) Location Tal Afar, Northern Nineveh Governorate, Iraq Result Decisive Iraqi victory Iraqi forces capture Tal Afar city on 28 August Iraqi forces capture Mahalabiyah and Ayadhiyah by 2 September[1]
Belligerents
Iraq Supported by: CJTF–OIR  Iraqi Kurdistan	Islamic State
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Gen. Abdel Emir Yarallah	Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Leader of ISIL) Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi[2] Abu Qatada al-Afri †
Units involved
Iraqi Security Forces Armed Forces Army 7th Division 26th Brigade[3] 9th Armored Division[4] 15th Infantry Division 16th Division[4] Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) 1st Division 3rd Division Air Force[4] Iraqi Police (IP)[4] Popular Mobilization Forces[4] 91st Brigade[5]	Military of ISIL
Strength
60,000+ fighters 40,000+ Iraqi soldiers[6] 20,000 paramilitaries[citation needed]	1,500–2,000 militants (per Iraq and US)[7][8]
Casualties and losses
115 killed, 679 wounded[1]	2,000+ killed (Iraqi claim)[1][9] 212 captured[10][9] 1,000–1,200 killed (U.S. claim)[11]
Dozens of civilians killed and 40,758 civilians displaced[1][9]

The Battle of Tal Afar was an offensive announced on 20 August 2017 by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in order to liberate the Tal Afar region from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).^{[12][13][14][15]} Victory in the battle was declared by the Prime Minister al-Abadi following the capture of the last ISIL-held area in Tal Afar district.^[16]

The offensive was concurrent with the Raqqa campaign conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against ISIL's capital city and stronghold in Syria, as well as the Central Syria Campaign, by the Syrian Army to capture ISIL territory towards Deir ez-Zor.