Iraqi security forces report “outstanding results” against ISIS in Diyala

Iraqi security forces said on Friday, that air strikes and law enforcement operations in Diyala governorate have achieved “outstanding results not seen in the past five years” against ISIS.

“The intense air strikes during the past three months resulted in the killing of more than 40 ISIS members, including prominent leaders who have been chased for many years,” said the leader of the Hamrin Axis in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Muhammad Salem Al-Tamimi, to Shafaq News agency.

Al-Tamimi added that “the majority of the strikes were concentrated on the outskirts of Lake Hamrin and the borders separating the lake from the districts of Jalawla and Qara Tappah,” noting that “the PMF operations in the remote villages linking northern Diyala and the outskirts of the Kurdistan Region and western Saladin have succeeded in cutting off the ways of communication and infiltration of ISIS almost completely, with continuous air support.”

In addition, an officer in the Diyala Operations Command confirmed that ISIS’s smuggling operations in Diyala decreased by at least 75% due to law enforcement measures and high coordination between Diyala operations and the “elite” special forces.

The officer, who preferred to stay anonymous, indicated that “the security formations of Diyala operations and anti-smuggling measures have succeeded in seizing more than 180 trucks and vehicles used for smuggling in various external roads in the vicinity of the administrative units extending to the borders of Baghdad, the Iranian borders, and the outskirts of the Kurdistan Region.”

Iraq has been fighting ISIS threats for many years. However, the extremist group took control of large swaths of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014, causing widespread displacement and suffering. Since then, the Iraqi government, with the help of its allies, has made significant progress in pushing back ISIS and liberating territory from its control.