“The operation comes as part of a strategy to track down terrorist sleeper cells and prevent them from gaining any foothold by closing all security gasp in front of them in these areas,” the PMF said on Telegram.
According to the statement, the campaign will mostly be centered on Anbar’s district of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria.
ISIS seized control of swathes of territory in 2014, sweeping across vast stretches of northern and central Iraq and declaring a so-called caliphate. The jihadists’ rule was brought to an end in 2017 when Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a United States-led international coalition, clawed back territory from the group.
Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS has continued to pose security threats in Iraq through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, particularly in the disputed territories that stretch across several provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.
On Saturday, an Iraqi airstrike killed at least four ISIS members in Kirkuk province.
In late August, a joint operation by the Iraqi army and US forces in Anbar province killed 16 ISIS militants, and the US military later said that the operation killed four ISIS leaders.
