...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) group in Iraq are unable to traverse in large groups and must rely on moving individually, an official from Iraq's Security Media Cell told state media on Thursday.
"Military operations have been continuing since last Sunday in various locations, starting with Diyala, Salahaddin, and Samarra, and today we began in northern Muqdadiyah in Diyala," said Major General Saad Maan, head of the Security Media Cell, describing areas in which ISIS remains a threat.
Maan said these operations were being conducted by teams from the Iraqi army, the Ministry of Interior, and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi).
"These operations succeeded in achieving their goals, reinforced by the presence of security leaders on the ground, and have so far resulted in the killings of a number of terrorists, the destruction of ISIS hideouts, and the strengthening of fortifications in the areas of operations," he added.
Maan also noted that the war on ISIS has transitioned into a guerilla war, with small skirmishes here and there. He claimed that the size of ISIS remnants are being blown out of proportion.
"They [ISIS] are trying to establish a presence in the areas of Khanukah, Mutaibija, and Jallab in Salahaddin, Qarachogh and southern Makhmour in Nineveh, Wadi al-Shay and Zghitun in Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
and Hawi al-Azim in Diyala," noted the general.
Last Friday, a deadly ISIS attack on an Iraqi base in Hawi al-Azim, Diyala killed 11 soldiers. It is the deadliest ISIS attack on the Iraqi army in 2022 thus far.
Touching on the situation in Syria, where ISIS Death Eaters detained in al-Sina'a prison in Hasaka attempted a large-scale prison break, Maan reassured that there is adequate security at the Iraq-Syria border. He says the area has been reenforced and the utilization of drones has contributed greatly to thwarting any potential threats.