Military operation launched in Maysan to nab outlaws, settle tribal disputes
Iraqi forces patrol an area in Iraq during a military operation to push out Islamic State. File Photo
Maysan (Iraqinews.com) – A wide-scale military operation was launched in Maysan governorate to maintain its security and arrest outlaws, a military commander told Alforat News.
“The clampdown, carried out under the supervision of the Maysan operations command and backed by Iraqi warplanes, aims at apprehending outlaws and drug dealers and bringing them to trial,” Commander of Rafidain Operations Command Major General Ali Ibrahim Debaon said on Monday.
“The operation, in which joint troops from outside the governorate are taking part, is also meant to settle tribal disputes, take weapons from citizens and arrest rioters in the governorate,” he said, adding that all legal procedures were taken against those arrested.
Debaon also urged Maysan residents to cooperate with the troops to render their mission a success.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over 3 million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq’s territory.