The festival was attended by Prime Minister Dr. Haider al-Abadi, the Commander of the Anti-Terrorist Authority, the Minister of Higher Education, the National Security Adviser, the Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Authority and a large number of volunteers from the Abbas's (p) fighting squad.
After the national anthem was played to announce the beginning of the ceremony, it began by the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran and reading Surah Al-Fatiha in memory of the martyrs of Iraq. Then the welcoming speech was delivered by Mr. Maitham Al-Zaidi, the supervisor of the fighting squad of al-Abbas (peace be upon him) stating: "We have the honor to be among you today on the occasion of the decisive victory that the Iraqis have drawn with their blood and jihad. Many say that we often repeat the word of "victory of Iraq", we tell them in the sermon of victory of the supreme religious authority, Sayed Ali al-Sistani, he mentioned this expression eleven times, and every nation and people in the world have the right to be proud of their patriotism, country, heritage and civilization. We do not believe that there is a country that possesses the foundations of our country Iraq. Iraq is the greatest and oldest civilization of humanity, and we have taught to the world how to express through writing. And our lad was the land of Prophets and righteous. And now, you see that Iraq has achieved the heroic epic through the blood of its martyrs by fighting ISIL, this calamitous beast that was not targeting Iraq as a final point, but wanted Iraq to be its starting point to the rest of the countries, but thanks to the blood of the martyrs ISIL was eliminated and Iraq and the entire region was liberated. "
He added: "The blessed fatwa was the soothing balm for the wounds of Iraq, which brought Iraq back to the forefront. Today we are supervising a new stage, the construction phase. We will move away from the militarization of cities and society. We will disarm freely and put our hand in the hands of the state to eliminate corruption and our efforts with the state will be double what we have presented against ISIL, because the scourge of corruption is the main reason for the entry of ISIL to Iraq. "
He said: "Abbas's (p) fighting squad is keen to apply the fatwa of the supreme religious authority; Sayed al-Sistani, because the popular mobilization, God willing, will have a big role in the next stage not in elections but in building Iraq, as it will only support the participation in the election ".
Then the Prime Minister Dr. Haidar al-Abadi delivered his word in which he presented his congratulations to the Iraqis for their victory: "We congratulate you once again for this great victory, and we congratulate you for the year of victory and the New Year without ISIL. This victory has created the unity of our people, as it was made by heroic brave fighters and the blood of the martyrs, the sacrifices of the wounded and every individual of this people who supported the victory with his money and time. We congratulate you for this great fatwa from the supreme religious authority, His Eminence Sayed Ali al-Sistani, and this fatwa, which our people have responded to, was the key to achieve victory, as they defended the homeland and the sanctuaries and they were the makers of the true victory. This victory was achieved when the popular mobilization stood up with the army, and when the anti-terrorist body stood with the police, when the tribesmen stood with these fighters, when they all stood with the Peshmerga on the outskirts of Mosul, they liberated Nineveh. These heroes stood with each other to achieve this victory. We must not forget then their sacrifices, and it is true that it is the responsibility of the state to take care of them but it is also the responsibility of the society to take care of the families of the martyrs, the wounded, and the disabled. I invite all the brothers of volunteers from the popular mobilization and from the people to form popular committees continuously to take care of the martyrs' families, and the state will be at their service, as it is part of the loyalty to the families of the martyrs and the wounded, and to preserve this victory based on the unity of the Iraqis.”
The Prime Minister pointed out: "We mention those displaced families from our people who emigrated and drove out by ISIL of the areas they occupied, and we want to bring them back to their homes and villages and cities, some voices raise trying to raise difficulties and problems. Some of them opened the doors in order to enter the ISIL. They were preaching the ISIL. We do not forget and we should not forget that they were saying that ISIL came to save you, but they entered and killed those who claimed that they wanted to defend them and abandoned them and destroyed all the infrastructure. We also should not forget the corrupted who seized the state funds and caused this disaster with their corruption, as ISIL would not have been able to enter to our cities but because of the corruption of those."
The ceremony included also some poems about the victory and triumph achieved by the Iraqis and their unity, when they stood in a single row to respond to the call of the supreme religious authority and its fatwa.