Offensives at ISIS holdout in Salahuddin, Kirkuk to start Thursday: Official
Iraqi security forces fire a rocket from a position in northern Diyali province, as they take part in a major offensive to retake the key city of Tikrit. Archival photo.
“Operations will be launched over the coming few hours at the western coast of Shirqat, Salahuddin, and the surrounding villages as well as villages in the vicinity of al-Zab region in Hawija,” Ahmed Khurshid, spokesperson of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) in Hawija told Baghdad Today website on Wednesday.
“Regarding Hawija, there has not been any mobilization,” Khurshid added.
Hawija and other neighboring regions including Zab and al-Riyad, west of Kirkuk, have been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. Further reinforcements from the Federal Police were sent earlier this month from Baghdad to the town, as the military command declared, late August, the end of operations in Tal Afar, the militants’ last haven west of Nineveh, and the approach of the launch of offensives for Hawija.
Earlier on the day, a paramilitary source said operations will be launched at western Shirqat early on Thursday, adding that joint Iraqi troops including Counter-Terrorism Service, Federal Police and Tribal Mobilization Forces will take part.
Iraqi Federal Police artillery bombarded the group’s locations in the eastern side of Shirqat early on the day, preparing to invade the town within the coming few hours from several directions.
Earlier this month, news reports indicated unprecedented displacement by IS families from Shirqat toward unknown destinations as liberation offensive nears.
The Iraqi army said in September its forces recaptured the western coast of Shirqat, located south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris river, after being surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and the pro-government Shi’ite militias. The eastern coast of Shirqat, is still under the IS control.