22 Iraqi militants killed over links with Islamic State, northwest of Syria
Confrontations between security forces and ISIS elements
In a statement, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, “confrontations broke out in Kafr Hund village in the countryside of Selqin city in Idlib, in the wake of accusations against an Iraqi family of joining Islamic State.”
HTS militants, according to the statement, arrested also members of the same family, which left five militants killed.
Many Islamic State members managed to flee Iraq after most of the cities were retaken from the militant group. They settled in the north of Syria as well as regions near the borders with Iraq, the observatory said.
On Sunday, the U.S-led Coalition announced launching the second phase of operations against Islamic State in al-Desheisha, east of Syria. The operations are carried out in cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Iraqi fighter jets and the artillery located near Iraqi-Syrian borders.
The Iraqi-Syrian borders are under the control of joint troops of military and border guards.
Iraqi warplanes launched, last month, a new wave of air raids against outposts of the Islamic State group in Syria.
In April, Abadi denied intentions to intervene within Syrian affairs, saying airstrikes against Islamic State will continue.
Iraq had previously announced launching airstrikes against IS locations in Syria. This came after Abadi said security troops will follow IS militants in the whole region, not only in Iraq.