Iraq Declares Victory As Country 'Totally Liberated' From Islamic State

Picture: Iraqi troops west of Mosul

Iraq has said that its war on the Islamic State is over after more than three years of combat operations. 

Speaking at a conference in Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced it was “the end of the war” as Iraqi forces were in full control of the country's border with Syria.

The news came as Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, from the Iraqi army released a statement Saturday declaring:

"All Iraqi lands are liberated from terrorist Daesh gangs and our forces completely control the international Iraqi-Syrian border." 

IS fighters overran nearly a third of Iraqi territory, including Mosul, the country's second largest city, in the summer of 2014.

Over the past three and a half years, Iraqi ground forces closely backed by the US-led coalition have retaken all of that territory.

However, IS fighters remain capable of carrying out insurgent attacks in Iraq, and the group has recovered from past setbacks.

In November, Iraqi forces retook the last town held by IS - Rawah, near the border with Syria.

Over the following weeks, Iraqi forces continued to clear patches of the country's vast western deserts.

In the most significant victory over the extremists, Iraqi forces retook Mosul earlier this year. Mr Al-Abadi declared the fight concluded in July, but clashes continued in the city for weeks afterwards.

Iraq now faces the daunting challenge of reconstruction.

The fighting caused massive devastation in many areas, and some three million Iraqis are still displaced.