Iraq forces open new front in final push against Daesh
Troops aim to clear the desert right up to Syrian border and hunt down the terrorists
BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces thrust north from the Euphrates Valley into the desert on Saturday, opening up a new front in the drive to lush out fugitive Islamic State group ighters, a commander said.
Daesh has already been driven from all the towns it once held, but Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi has said he will not proclaim victory until the militants have been cleared from the western desert bordering Syria.
Troops and paramilitaries had advanced into the desert from the east and north on Thursday at the start of an offensive aimed at inflicting a inal defeat on the militants.
On Saturday, troops and tribal militia pushed north from Al Qaim and Rawa, two Euphrates Valley towns recaptured from Daesh earlier this month, in a pincer movement against retreating Daesh ighters, one of the operation’s two commanders said.
“It’s a matter of linking up with the forces advancing from Nineveh” province in the north, the commander said, asking not to be identiied.
“The aim of the operation is to clear the desert right up to the Syrian border and hunt down the terrorists who led into the desert from the towns that have been liberated.”
The Hashed Al Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary force, which has played a key role in the offensive, said 100 villages and hamlets had already been cleared of Daesh militants.
“The battle for the desert is very important because it’s from there that Daesh ighters coming from Syria can attack our defence lines,” said Hashed number two Abu Mahdi Al Mohandis.
In a video posted by the Hashed, Mohandis said the desert was “the last region where Daesh still has a military presence.”
He said operations against it were under away over an area of 27,000 sq km. But he warned that their completion would not spell the end of Daesh.
“We must hunt them down in areas that have been liberated and we must arrest them before they slip back into urban areas,” said Mohandis, who is widely regarded as the strongman of the Hashed, which is largely composed of Iran-backed Shiite militias.
“We must remain in a state of alert,” he added. “Security will not be fully assured until we have complete control of the border with Syria.”