The operation gains were announced by the Iraqi Security Media Cell, a communications organization in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, on Tuesday night.
“This operation was to compliment the results achieved in the past three stages in sweeping and clearing, and in establishing stability and destroying the remnants of the terrorist Daesh gangs,” the Cell said, using the Arabic acronym of ISIS.
“Our joint armed security forces will continue its operations and chasing all who allow themselves to tamper with the security of the people,” the statement added.
Will of Victory was launched on July 7, aiming to eradicate what remains of ISIS with the backing of the US-led international coalition’s air power.
The operation has been collaboratively conducted by the Iraqi Army, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi), federal police and the US-led coalition, among others.
Its fourth phase was initiated on Saturday under the direct supervision of Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Four ISIS militants were killed in the first day of operations; two by airstrikes undertaken by the US-led coalition, and two more by the PMF.
The PMF announced the killing of another ISIS militant in this operation phase and the arrests of seven others in a statement released yesterday.
This brings the total number of ISIS militants killed over the course of the operation to seven, and those arrested to 13.
Iraq announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in December 2017. However, the group has now reassembled in the form of sleeper cells, using insurgency tactics of killing, kidnap and ambush to target civilians and officials alike.
The group has been particularly potent in territories disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, exploiting the resulting security vacuums in these areas, and in Anbar, a province neighboring Syria.
A report from the US Department of Defense released in August put the number of remaining ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria at 14-18,000.
