Iraqi troops destroy 10 Islamic State hideouts in Anbar
Paramilitary fighters and military vehicles are seen during a military operation to retake positions held by Islamic State militants, on the outskirts of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province, north of Baghdad January 25, 2015. Picture taken January 25, 2015. REUTERS
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi paramilitary commander said on Monday that 10 hotbeds of the Islamic State militant group were destroyed during an ongoing military operation in the country.
“Security forces, backed by Iraqi warplanes, destroyed 10 Islamic State hideouts and killed all terrorists inside as part of the fourth phase of the Operation Will of Victory in the desert of Anbar on the Iraqi-Syrian border,” Qatari al-Obeidi, a senior commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, told Iraq’s Almaalomah website.
The operation was carried out based on intelligence information, he said, adding that the security forces launched a wide-scale campaign to search for other IS hideouts in the area.
The Will of Victory Operation’s first phase had been launched in July, targeting IS elements in western regions.
According to the Iraqi military, 13 villages were cleared in areas south of Nineveh during the operation’s third phase.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq in November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.
In November, Iraqi forces recaptured Anbar’s western town of Rawa, the last Islamic State entrenchment in Iraq.