Iraq holds parade to celebrate victories over IS

Baghdad / AFP

Iraqi security forces paraded through Baghdad on Thursday to celebrate victories over the IS extremist group, but an unannounced rehearsal two days earlier put a damper on the
festivities.
PM Haider al-Abadi reviewed the forces from a pavilion as they passed through central Tahrir Square, and military jets and helicopters overflew the city.
The parade was held to mark “the liberation of Fallujah and Ramadi and all the Iraqi territory that was liberated,” defence ministry spokesman Brigadier General Tahseen Ibrahim said, referring to two key cities recaptured from the extremists.
But an unannounced rehearsal for the parade held on Tuesday, in which many roads were closed and military vehicles drove through the city, inspired fear rather than celebration.
Some speculated on social media that it was a message to protesters planning a demonstration on Friday that Abadi has called on them to delay, while others speculated that it could be a military coup.
Iraq announced the full recapture of Fallujah, a city 50 kilometres west of Baghdad that had been outside government control for more than two and a half years, at the end of June.
Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was declared to have been recaptured at the end of December, but fighting in the area continued into this year.