Army recaptures villages from Islamic State west of Anbar
Iraqi army forces.
Nazem al-Juhgeifi, a senior intelligence commander at al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said army forces, backed by police and tribal troops, recaptured seven villages on the road between the towns of Annah and Rawa. He said IS militants fled those villages without resistance.
Ragea al-Eifan, a member of the security committee at Anbar Province council, said troops retook four other villages after militants fled to the town of Rawa.
He said forces began to defuse explosive devices planted by the group to secure a pathway for military vehicles, while securing civilians evacuated from those regions.
“The mission is to clear Rawa as a first phase while cutting supplies to the group from the town of Qaem passing at the desert area surrounding those areas,” he stated.
IS used regions of western Anbar as launching points for attacks against civilians and security forces. Iraqi security and coalition forces responded with occasional strikes on those locations.
The most outstanding battle against IS in Iraq has been running since October at the city of Mosul, the country’s second largest city and the formerly proclaimed capital of the militants’ “Islamic Caliphate”. Generals say they have become in control over a half of the city’s eastern section and hope to advance towards the western section on the borders with Syria.