Iraq starts offensive to take back Tal Afar from Islamic State
(WorldNews Health)

Iraqi security forces launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar on Sunday, their next objective in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said. `You either surrender, or die,` Mr. Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants. A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni Muslim insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles (80 km) west of Mosul, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi`ites after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Islamic State`s most senior commanders. The city was cut off from the rest of Islamic State-held territory in June. It is...