More than 60 percent of sorties against Islamic State in Iraq are carried out by the nation's air forces and about 40 percent by the US-led coalition, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday. Iraq's army last month scored its first success against Islamic State when it recaptured, with air support from the coalition, the city centre of Ramadi. Until then, it was the Iran-backed Shia militias that were leading the fight against the hardline Sunni militants.
Speaking at a ceremony in Baghdad broadcast live on state TV, Abadi said Iraq still needed foreign assistance for air cover, training and armament, but not for ground operations. Abadi renewed his call for Turkey to withdraw troops deployed in the region of Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq which has been under Islamic State control since 2014.
"This is a frank invitation to Turkey our neighbour to pull out its forces from Iraq," he said. "We will deploy every effort permitted by our rights and international law to make them leave," he added. Turkey deployed around 150 troops last month at the Bashiqa base, where it is training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State, citing heightened security risks.