Iraqi security launches preemptive strike against ISIS
An ISIS terrorist. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi security forces launched on Tuesday a preemptive air strike against remnants of the terrorist group ISIS in the northern governorate of Kirkuk to paralyze its ability to prove its presence after announcing the name of its new leader, Abu Hafs Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi.
The Iraqi Security Media Cell (ISMC) mentioned in a statement that the air strike was carried out using F-16 fighter jets in a valley in Kirkuk, indicating that the strike resulted in the killing of terrorist elements.
The statement emphasized that security forces will continue their qualitative and preemptive operations against the remaining terrorists until they have no place in Iraq.
Security experts see that the Iraqi forces are anticipating that the terrorist group will resort to a new strategy to prove its existence and the strength of its new leader, so they intensify their preemptive strikes to thwart the group’s potential operations.
UN experts said in a report circulated Monday that the ISIS group still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former strongholds in Syria and Iraq, according to the AP.
The report mentioned that during the first half of 2023, the threat posed by ISIS remained mostly high in conflict zones and low in non-conflict areas.
The report that is directed to the UN Security Council said that the overall situation is dynamic, and despite significant losses in the group’s leadership and reduced activity in Syria and Iraq, the risk of its resurgence remains.
Iraq announced in late 2017 the liberation of all its territories from the grip of ISIS, but the authorities are constantly launching security operations to pursue remnants of the terrorist group that carry out attacks from time to time in the country.
The Iraqi security forces waged battles in several Iraqi governorates, including Nineveh, Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah Al-Din, Anbar, and the outskirts of Baghdad, to eliminate the remaining members of the ISIS group following the elimination of the terrorist group, which occupied large areas in Iraq and Syria for years.