Anti-ISIS operation kicks off in Kirkuk

Khazan Jangiz

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi security forces have launched an operation in Kirkuk aiming to clear out remnants of Islamic State (ISIS) militants that are active in the south of the province, an official has told Rudaw.

“The aim of this operation is clearing the area of Daesh [Arabic acronym for ISIS] remnants that are few in number,” commander of the Iraqi army’s 32nd Brigade, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Shammari, told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed on Wednesday. 

The operation also includes “protecting the oil fields, electricity towers and gas companies, in addition to securing protection for citizens,” he added.

The area is rural, mostly agricultural land, which makes movement “hard” but not impossible, according to the commander.

Iraq’s security media cell announced the launch of the operation on Tuesday, which is under the direct supervision of the Joint Operations Command.

ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019 but remains a threat on both sides of the border, carrying out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.

Several attacks on electricity towers have been reported in the past months, mostly in the disputed territories where ISIS has exploited a security vacuum. One terrorist was killed by security forces in Diyala province as he was trying to blow up an electricity pylon late last month. 

Joint Coordination Centres with both Iraqi and Kurdish forces have been set up in disputed areas to fill the security vacuum, including in Kirkuk. 

Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi forces have come under ISIS attacks several times this year. One fighter from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) was killed and three others were injured in an ISIS attack on the PMF’s Brigade 16 in Kirkuk, Iraqi state media said in May.

The militants also attacked a position of Peshmerga fighters in Kirkuk province that same month, killing three and wounding two others.