BAGHDAD (AFP) – Baghdad’s forces retook a series of villages from Daesh in western Iraq as they fought to oust it from territory near the Syrian border, officers said Friday.
The operation, which aims to recapture the towns of Rawa, Aanah and Al-Qaim — the last main populated areas held by IS in Anbar province — was launched on Thursday.
“Our military units liberated seven villages from Daesh control between the town of Haditha and the town of Aanah,” said Staff Major General Qassem al-Mohammedi, the head of the Jazeera Operations Command, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Staff Major General Noman Abed al-Zobai, the commander of the 7th Division, said that seven villages had been recaptured, and government forces had reached the outskirts of Al-Sagra, an area southeast of Aanah.
Iraqi forces have retaken Ramadi and Fallujah, the two main cities in Anbar province, but security in recaptured areas remains precarious.
Anbar is a vast province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approach to Baghdad, and has a long history of insurgent activity.
Daesh overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory they lost.
They are now fighting to recapture Mosul, the last Iraqi city where Daesh holds signficant ground.
But the recapture of major population centres held by IS will not mark the end of the conflict against them. The militants are still able to carry out frequent bombings in government-controlled areas, and are likely to turn increasingly to such tactics as they lose territory.
