The Iraqi army on Sunday launched a wide-scale military operation, targeting remnants of the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group in Diyala governorate, a senior military commander was quoted as saying.
The Iraqi army on Sunday launched a wide-scale military operation, targeting remnants of the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group in Diyala governorate, a senior military commander was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press, Commander of Tigris Operations Gen. Mazhar al-Azawi said, “A joint force made up of the Iraqi army, police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) launched a wide-scale military operation, tracking down Daesh remnants in the eastern part of Diyala.”
“The clampdown comes as part of the Tigris Operations Command’s strategy to maintain Diyala’s security and reassure its residents,” Azawi said, stressing that the operation was launched to hunt for Daesh cells and destroy all their strongholds in the governorate.
In January 2016, Iraqi forces announced liberation of Diyala province from Daesh terrorists who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The province has seen months of fighting between Iraqi troops and Daesh militants especially in the Jalawla and Saadiyah areas in the province’s north and areas near the town of Muqdadiyah.
Iraq declared the collapse of Daesh’s self-proclaimed caliphate in November 2016 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.
