Iraq launches military operation targeting Islamic State remnants in Diyala
An armored vehicle rams into an Islamic
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) – The Iraqi army launched on Sunday a wide-scale military operation, targeting Islamic State remnants in Diyala governorate, a senior military commander was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press, Commander of Tigris Operations Gen. Mazhar al-Azawi said, “A joint force made up of the Iraqi army, police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) launched a wide-scale military operation, tracking down Islamic State remnants in the eastern part of Diyala.”
“The clampdown comes as part of the Tigris Operations Command’s strategy to maintain Diyala’s security and reassure its residents,” Azawi said, stressing that the operation was launched to pursuit IS cells and destroy all their strongholds in the governorate.
In January 2015, Iraqi forces announced liberation of Diyala province from Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The province has seen months of fighting between Iraqi troops and IS militants especially in the Jalawla and Saadiyah areas in the province’s north and areas near the town of Muqdadiyah.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.