Army forces reach to Islamic State’s stronghold in Anbar
Iraqi army forces entering Kirkuk to retake the province from Kurdish troops.
Sabah al-Noa’man, spokesperson for the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, said, “troops arrived their positions near Qaim ahead of beginning the last phase of the operation of the town.”
Earlier today, the Iraqi forces halted their advance towards IS locations in Anbar province due to bad weather.
Joint Operations Command airdropped, earlier on the Sunday, more than one million leaflets urging IS militants to turn in themselves.
Many IS militants reportedly fled Qaim heading to al-BuKamal in Syria, after several leaders ran away and were killed in airstrikes by the Iraqi and U.S.-Coalition jets.
The Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced on Thursday the launch of operations to liberate Qaim and Rawa towns. Hundreds of thousands of messages were airdropped on Wednesday on the two towns informing civilians that security troops are coming to free them and urging them to stay away from the enemy.
Both towns have been held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”.