Dubbed Solid Will, the new phase of the operation is carried out under the supervision of the Joint Operations Command units and participated by the Border Guard Command, Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), Iraqi Special Forces, the Counter-Terrorism Service, and the Rapid Response Division, according to the statement from the cell.
"These operations, carried out by the security forces, aims to dry up the sources of terrorism, pursue ISIS terrorist elements, and clear the lands from the taint of terrorism and crime in its various forms," it added.
The operation seeks to eliminate the threat of ISIS through setting specific targets in different areas in the western provinces, and will heavily rely on accurate information from the intelligence agencies and the support of Iraqi air forces.
Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi arrived in Anbar province hours after the new phase started to closely monitor the campaign.
“I say to ISIS: You have tested us in various fields, militarily and security, praise be to God that we record victory after victory on a daily basis, and you are losing day after day,” the PM’s office cited Kadhimi saying in a speech in Anbar.
The first phase of Solid Will, which sought to pursue ISIS remnants in Salahaddin, Anbar, and Nineveh, was conducted on March 29, lasting for three days. It resulted in the destruction of 19 ISIS dens and six tunnels, in addition to finding numerous explosive-laden vehicles, booby-trapped houses, an explosive lab, and a number of weapons and ammunition, including four Katyusha rockets, two RBG7 launchers, and 30 projectiles.
Iraq’s Intelligence Agency said on Thursday that it killed four ISIS members in Salahaddin province during an airstrike.
A base of Tribal Sunni forces in northern Diyala province was attacked by suspected ISIS members on Tuesday, killing four of the militants in the clashes that ensued.
In January, nine ISIS members were killed as a result of an airstrike in Diyala.
In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 28 attacks in Iraq from April 14 to April 20, killing and injuring 51 people.
ISIS controlled swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in Iraq and Syria in 2017 and 2019 respectively, but it continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
