Iraqi forces launch second phase of operation along border with Jordan, Saudi Arabia
Iraqi army troops and fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have launched the second phase of a major military operation to purge the westernmost part of Anbar province along the border with Jordan and Saudi Arabia of the remnants of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
Commander of Anbar Operations for the PMU, Qassim Musleh, said in a press statement on Friday that his fellow fighters and the army soldiers had mounted a multi-pronged offensive, codenamed 'Heroes of Victory.'
He added that the operation started from four axes, noting that fighters of the PMU, better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, and army forces will cleanse districts on the border between Iraq and Jordan in the first axis, while the forces will purge the Iraqi-Saudi border of Daesh in the second.
Musleh pointed out that the forces will pursue the operation in far-flung geographic areas and rugged terrains that the terrorists use to either hide or camouflage in the third and final axes.
On February 28, Hashd al-Sha’abi forces launched an operation, codenamed 'Leaders of Victory,' to clear the districts of Medisisa and Salloum Forest, which lie south of the western town of Qa'im and nearly 400 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad, besides the areas of Akra and Hamid Turky, Shaleej village and Beit Ajaj region.
On September 21, 2019, the PMU announced the conclusion of a campaign against the sleeper cells of Daesh in the central parts of the country as well as a sector of the vast western desert leading to the border with Saudi Arabia.
The PMU media bureau announced in a statement at the time that the fifth phase of the 'Will of Victory' operation, which had started on September 16, was wrapped up as different units and forces of Iraqi military forces cleared the remote territory between the provinces of Karbala, Najaf and Anbar.
Iraqi forces cleared plains in a 4,800-kilometer square area in Anbar during the operation’s fifth phase. The forces detained 21 Daesh suspects.
Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters have played a major role in the liberation of Daesh-held areas to the south, northeast and north of the Iraqi capital, ever since the terrorists launched an offensive in the country, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.
In November 2016, the Iraqi parliament voted to integrate Hashd al-Sha’abi, which was formed shortly after the emergence of Daesh in Iraq in 2014, into the military.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against Daesh in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.
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