Abadi raises Iraqi flag in border town recaptured from IS

Iraqi forces retook al-Qaim, the largest town under Islamic State control in Iraq, on Friday.

The fall of town, home to around 150,000 people, mostly from Sunni tribes, leaves IS fighters in Iraq holding just the smaller neighbouring town of Rawa and surrounding pockets of barren desert along the Euphrates river.

Abadi visited the newly-liberated town and the nearby Husaybah border crossing in Western Iraq on Sunday, al-Iraqiya TV said, raising the Iraqi flag.

Both areas sit along what was once an important supply route used by IS when the group controlled large swathes of Syria and Iraq.

The capture of Qaim - with the support of a US-led international coalition - marked the end of the conventional war against IS, coalition officials said.

The militants are expected to rely more on insurgent-style attacks now that they no longer hold significant territory.

On Friday, the Syrian regime announced its forces had seized IS's last stronghold in Syria, Deir az-Zour.