Iraqi army forces, allies retake over dozen villages in Anbar

Iraqi forces, backed by allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, have established control over more than a dozen villages in the country’s western province of Anbar as they are trying to purge the Euphrates Valley, which straddles the Iraqi-Syrian border, from the last remnants of the DaeshTakfiri terrorist group.

Iraqi forces, backed by allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, have established control over more than a dozen villages in the country’s western province of Anbar as they are trying to purge the Euphrates Valley, which straddles the Iraqi-Syrian border, from the last remnants of the DaeshTakfiri terrorist group.

The commander of the al-Jazira and Upper Euphrates liberation operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, said on Wednesday that army troops and pro-government fighters – better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi – had completely retaken 13 villages, including al-Jadish, al-Deir, al-Khour, al-Bawadiyah, al-Sammah, al-Baydhah, al-Hassaniyah, and al-Samsiyah over the past three days, and killed more than 38 Daesh extremists, Arabic-language al-Mawazin news agency reported.

Yarallah noted that government forces and their allies had also detonated six car bombs, killed three bombers, and destroyed eight motorcycle bombs as well as 10 vehicles carrying personnel and military hardware to Daesh terrorists.

The senior Iraqi military official further noted that the forces had defused or detonated more than 100 improvised explosive devices during the mentioned period as well.

Yarallah went on to say that military units were continuing to advance towards the town of Rawah, located about 300 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad.