Security source: Islamic State controls 80% of Anbar’s desert

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants are controlling 80 percent of Anbar’s desert areas, a security source was quoted saying as the province’s western areas await liberation amid escalating attacks by the group.

A lieutenant from the army’s Soqour al-Sahraa (desert falcons) regiment told London-based al-Quds Alarabi that besides holding highways near its strongholds in Annah, Rawa and Qaim, Islamic State is holding 80 percent of the western deserts, from where militants had launched deadly attacks against government and paramilitary troops.

“Anbar’s desert has become a conduit between the group’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq, a lifeline and a passageway for its military supplies,” the officer told the newspaper.

“The region hosts enormous training camps for fighters coming from abroad,” said the officer, adding that militants, disguised as Iraqi army and police members, erect barricades and armed checkpoints there.

According to the officer, most of attacks by the Islamic State target the Tenef and Treibil border crossings, which the militants take over briefly before retreating again to their havens in Wadi Hauran desert.

The officer said he predicts IS to wage an attack attempting to retake Anbar’s city of Ramadi which they lost in 2016. He said intelligence efforts remain weak in the area, adding that trained personnel numbers are not sufficient to paralyze militants’ activities near the borders with Syria.

He said U.S. support was vital for maintaining government and tribal forces’ resistance in face of the militant group.

The Iraqi government says it will aim at IS havens in Anbar once it is done with its campaign to drive the group out of Mosul its largest stronghold in Iraq. PM Haider al-Abadi said a few weeks ago that securing borders with Syria became a high priority.