Fight Against ISIS Throughout Iraq Intensifies

nsnbc : The ground war and aerial campaign against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq intensifies throughout the country with thousands of ground forces and militia battling the insurgents in Fallujah and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters renewing their campaign in Mosul. Observers note that troops are about to expel ISIS from Fallujah.

Iraq_Military Comvoy_Al-Anbar_May 2016 (archives)Iraqi military forces supported by some 4,000 tribal fighters as well as Iraqi and foreign air forces are preparing for a final push to dislodge fighters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, from the city of Fallujah. About 30 ISIS command centers in Fallujah have been targeted in air strikes.

The strikes were carried out  in preparation of a large-scale ground campaign. Progress of ground forces proceeds with caution as ISIS is shelling roads and has placed countless improvised explosive devices (IED) and mines.

The Defense Ministry announced Thursday that scores of ISIS fighters were killed during operations, including the ISIS deputy Wali of Fallujah who was reportedly killed in an air strike. The air strike on central Fallujah, some 62 kilometers south of the capital Baghdad, was carried out by the Iraqi air force.

The air strike was reportedly carried out with a Mi-28 aircraft after Iraqi authorities received intelligence about a meeting of ISIS leaders in the Haj Hussein restaurant in central Fallujah.

An apparently confident Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced earlier this week that security operations aimed at liberating Fallujah left ISIS insurgents with no other choice than to flee or to fight and be defeated. There have been a growing number of reports about desertation from ISIS ranks.

Ali Dawood, the head of the Khalidiya District Council in Anbar province announced on Thursday, that security forces and tribal fighters had advanced in the Albu Bali area in the Khalidiya Island. Two ISIS leaders were reportedly killed during fighting there. The island is located about 23 kilometers east of the city of Ramadi. Dawood added that the ISIS commander of Khalidi Island, known as Abu Maaz or Abu Mostafa has been killed by a booby-trap.

Fallujah Dam_al-anbar_IraqOn Wednesday the Provincial Council of Anbar announced the liberation of an area in Amiriya in southern Fallujah. Thirteen ISIS fighters were reportedly killed and a car bomb was destructed during operations there.

Barakat al-Eissawi, a member of the security committee in Anbar told the press that the joint security forces were able to cleanse the Albu Hamad region near the strategically highly sensitive Fallujah Dam. He added that the operation resulted in the death of several ISIS fighters including a number of foreigners, as well as in the destruction of three car bombs.

Eissawi added that ground forces are advancing towards the Fallujah Dam and are storming the areas of Ihsi and Abu Huah near the southern entrance of Fallujah in order to reach the bridges of al-Gomhoreya and al-Hadid on the banks of the Euphrates River.

The Fallujah Dam is of greatest strategic importance. Holding the dam enables ISIS to either close down the water supply for millions of people, or to demolish the dam and cause a flood wave. Wresting the dam from the insurgents is, in other words, a highly sensitive operation.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Nineveh, for its part, announced that five ISIS fighters were killed by artillery fire in Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul. The PUK also reported that ISIS executed eight of its own fighters for not joining the combat axis in the city center.

Ghyath Alsurja, the PUK spokesman in Mosul told the press that the artillery of the Peshmerga troops that were stationed on the Mashiqa Mountain north of Mosul targeted ISIS concentrations in the region.

CH/L – nsnbc 27.05.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/05/27/fight-against-isis-in-iraq-intensifies-in-fallujah-and-mosul/

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