‘We will continue to seek the total destruction of ISIS’
President Donald Trump celebrated the liberation of Mosul from the grip of the Islamic State in a statement Monday in which he vowed to “continue to seek the total destruction of ISIS.”
Mosul is one of the largest cities in Iraq and had been under ISIS control since 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared Monday that the city had been liberated by Iraqi forces supported by the U. S. and allied forces after a nine-month siege.
“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, ” President Trump said. “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.”
He went on to state: “We have made tremendous progress against ISIS – more in the past 6 months than in the years since ISIS became a major threat. The victory in Mosul, a city where ISIS once proclaimed its so-called ‘caliphate,’ signals that its days in Iraq and Syria are numbered. We will continue to seek the total destruction of ISIS.”
