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Iraq launches ‘New Dawn’ operation against ISIS in southwest Kirkuk

Iraq launches New Dawn operation against ISIS in southwest Kirkuk
Iraq launches ‘New Dawn’ operation against ISIS in southwest Kirkuk

2019-08-05 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

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.





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