Limited military offensive launches to clear Anbar desert from IS
Iraqi forces during clashes with ISIS in Ramadi, Anbar. File photo.
Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Falahi was quoted by Alsumaria News saying that army commando and police forces sat on a military offensive to purge the desert area which falls 160 kilometers to the west of Ramadi. The operation targets a space of 10 kilometers of that area.
Another operation is planned sooner for the desert area around the city of al-Rutba (310 Km west of Ramadi), which will be backed by tribal troops, according to Falahi.
Islamic State militants have held Anbar’s western towns of Annah, Qaim and Anbar since 2014. Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the allied U.S.-led coalition have also regularly pounded IS locations in the province. Anbar’s military command previously launched a brief assault early January that managed to recapture some western villages before stopping again.
Local officials believe Islamic State is holding thousands of civilians at its western strongholds to use them as human shields against any future security offensive.
The Iraqi government and army commanders say they will aim at IS havens in Anbar once it is finished with eliminating the group from Mosul, its biggest bastion in Iraq.
IS has escalated its attacks against army and paramilitary forces in the province over the past few months, leaving several personnel dead.