Iraq military denies fresh anti-IS offensive in western Anbar
Commander of the Joint Operations Command’s field operations, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s military command denied Wednesday news reports saying it had launched an offensive against an Islamic State haven in western Anbar, urging media to heed accuracy so as not to damage military efforts.
The Joint Operations Command said in a statement that it “denies some news published by media about starting the Clearance Operations in Al Rummana, and warns some media agencies from reporting news that harms the military plans of the operations, and confirms that the official source of announcing the starting of clearance operations is a War Media Cell”.
The media outlet of the Popular Mobilization Forces, the paramilitary force backing Iraqi troops in their operations, said the news was posted on its website by mistake.
Earlier on Wednesday, Alsumaria News quoted Qatari al-Obaidi, a senior commander of Anbar’s mobilization forces, saying that an operation was launched to clear Rummana from IS.
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.
Operations were launched, late October, to liberate Qaim and Rawa towns. Both have been held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”.
Iraqi forces have managed, so far, to retake Mosul, the group’s former capital, the town of Tal Afar, west of Nineveh, Kirkuk’s town of Hawija and Anbar’s Annah and Qaim, leaving only Rawa in militants’ grip.