Iraqi forces on Friday entered Rawa, the last major town held by Islamic State militants in the country, a military official said.

Maj.-Gen. Noman al-Zubaie, the chief of the Iraqi army’s Seventh Division told newsmen that the advance came hours after Iraq launched a new attack aimed at expelling Islamic State from Rawa near the border with Syria.

“Army troops and tribal fighters are participating in the U.S.-backed campaign.

“The forces have started storming Rawa from three directions,’’ Al-Zubaie added without further details.

Rawa is in the western province of Anbar where Islamic State established a foothold in Iraq in early 2014.

Earlier this month, Iraq announced it had retaken control of the western town of al-Qaim near the Syrian border, dealing a significant blow to Islamic State.

Al-Qaim was strategically important for Islamic State because it linked Iraq across the border to areas under the radical group’s control in war-torn Syria.

In recent months, Islamic State has lost vast chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria where the al-Qaeda-splinter group launched a self-proclaimed caliphate.