The Iraqi Security Media Cell, a communications organization in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, published the results of yesterday’s actions on Facebook today. Yesterday was the first day of the ongoing anti-ISIS operation’s fourth phase, and is being carried out in the Anbar province.
Iraqi army units destroyed 15 ISIS tunnels on all the four frontlines on the first day of the operation, and also defused eight explosive devices, according to the Security Media Cell.
US-led coalition warplanes conducted one airstrike against an ISIS tunnel, which resulted in the deaths of two militants, also according to the Security Media Cell.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, killed two ISIS militants and arrested four others in the Wadi al-Madsis valley frontline in the Anbar desert. One militant in the Iran-backed militia was also wounded during the clashes with the ISIS militants, according to the cell’s post.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who is commander in chief of Iraq’s armed forces, arrived at the military’s Anbar Operation Command headquarters on Sunday to supervise and discuss the latest updates about the fourth phase of Will of Victory operation, his office said on Twitter.
Commander-in-Chief @AdilAbdAlMahdi, accompanied by the Ministers of Defence and Interior, arrives at Anbar Operations Command, receives briefing on the progress of phase IV of Operation #WillOfVictory to hunt down Daesh remnants in the desert region of Anbar Province. pic.twitter.com/bHGFBUTczS
— Government of Iraq - الحكومة العراقية (@IraqiGovt) August 25, 2019
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced the start of the fourth phase of its “Will of Victory” operation to hunt down the ISIS sleeper cells in the deserts of Anbar province on Saturday.
“The aim of the operation is to clean the desert of Anbar from Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells,” the Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement on Saturday.
The operation is a collaboration between various domestic forces, including the Anbar Operations Command, al-Jazira Operation Command, Hashd al-Ashairi paramilitias, federal police, the army, the PMF, Border Guard Command and the air force, as well as the US-led international coalition, according to the statement.
Iraqi security forces aim to clear a nearly 43,000 kilometer area in the operation.
The Iraqi government announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in December 2017. However, remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics of ambushing security forces, kidnapping, executing suspected informants, and extorting money from vulnerable, rural populations.
ISIS is particularly active near the Syrian border, in the Nineveh province, and in disputed territories between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
A report from the US Department of Defense released in August said there are 14,000 to 18,000 ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria.
