Dozens of IEDs were retrieved and destroyed on Wednesday as “Will of Victory” – a combined operation of the Iraqi Army and Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias – enters its fourth day, paving the way for displaced civilians to return to their homes.
The Iraqi Army’s brigade 60, supported by the Iraqi Air Force, destroyed seven suspected ISIS hideouts in Nineveh, according a Ministry of Defense statement released Wednesday.
Nine IEDs were destroyed in a controlled demolition and 33 Katyusha rockets seized.
Brigade 43 also destroyed 12 suspected ISIS hideouts in Nineveh, and disposed of six IEDs, according to the statement.
Hashd al-Shaabi, with the assistance of Iraqi jets, destroyed an ISIS vehicle in Nineveh and killed four ISIS suspects. Eleven IEDs were also recovered and destroyed.
This follows the killing of three ISIS suspects in the same province on Monday.
Meanwhile in Saladin province, the Iraqi Army destroyed several more suspected ISIS hideouts and eleven IEDs. It also seized four Katyusha rockets and machinery used to produce IEDs.
In the Anbar village of al-Shwilly, the Iraqi Army destroyed three IEDs.
Mohammed al-Askari, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Staff General, said Monday the operation was initiated after an increase in ISIS activity and the interception of messages from ISIS leaders in Syria telling cells to regroup in western areas of Iraq, particularly Anbar.
“These operations will not end until they reach the last frontiers of Iraq,” Askari told reporters.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense published a video on Wednesday showing brigade 60 and brigade 28 meeting between Nineveh and Anbar having completed their sweep of these territories.
Iraqi security forces launched the “Will of Victory” operation to target ISIS sleeper cells in Nineveh, Anbar, and Saladin, military officials announced Sunday.
The operation is being conducted by Iraqi army units, as well as large units of Hashd al-Shaabi and Sunni tribal fighters known as Hashd al-Ahsairi, accompanied by the Iraqi Air Force, according to Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah, deputy head of Iraqi joint operations.
Rudaw approached the US-led coalition for comment on the operation and to confirm its involvement but is yet to receive a response.
ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria in March. However, a sophisticated network of sleeper cells and remnants of the group have since resumed their earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, abducting village chiefs, and even burning crop fields.
