Iraq launches ‘New Dawn’ operation against ISIS in southwest Kirkuk
Iraqi
counterterrorism forces launched a fresh operation against ISIS cells in
southwest Kirkuk province on Sunday, deploying troops and warplanes into areas
west of Hawija, al-Rashad, and al-Abassi, military officials said.
The
region has seen a recent uptick in insurgent activity, including bombings,
ambushes, kidnappings, extortion, and even arson.
Operation
“New Dawn” was declared by Iraq’s Security Media Cell on Sunday.
Iraqi
counterterrorism forces rope-dropped from helicopters into rural areas of
southwest Kirkuk on Sunday morning to scour the area for ISIS bases and cells.
“The
New Dawn operation successfully destroyed several ISIS tunnels and bases in
southern areas of Kirkuk,” the media cell said in a statement Sunday.
“The
operation also resulted in neutralizing and killing several ISIS militants through
airstrikes and ground attacks.”
“This
operation is part of the series of operations that the Iraqi security forces is
conducting to counter the ISIS cells in different areas of Iraq,” the statement
added.
Further
details about the operation are expected soon.
New
Dawn follows an earlier operation dubbed “Will of Victory” which took place in
July. The operation cleared sleeper cells, bomb factories and weapons caches
between Nineveh, Anbar and Saladin.
ISIS
was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but continues to pose
a serious security threat.
Militants
have resumed their earlier insurgency tactics, taking advantage of the security
vacuum between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the disputed territories.
There
are near daily reports of ISIS militants carrying out hit-and-run attacks on
security personnel and infrastructure, kidnapping and killing local officials
and civilians.
According
to Ambassador James Jeffrey, the US special representative for Syria
engagement, ISIS still has roughly 15,000 fighters active across Iraq and
Syria.
ISIS
militants swept across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, seizing control of
several large Sunni-majority cities.
At
the height of its power between 2014 and 2016, ISIS controlled an area roughly
the size of Great Britain, spread across both Iraq and Syria.