The victory of the Iraqi armed forces and militias aligned with the government over Islamic State (IS) militants in the Sunni town of Jurf al-Sakhar has been hailed as an important one by a number of conservative Iranian news outlets.
The battle for the strategic city south of Baghdad is significant in that control of Jurf al-Sakhar will enable the Iraqi army to cut off IS from its strongholds in Anbar province. The city was won solely by Iraqi forces without coalition air power, and set the blueprint for the next battle between the Iraqi army and IS in the strategic cities of Amiriya and Fallujah.