US and Iraqi commandos raided Islamic State hideouts in western Iraq final week, killing no less than 14 IS fighters in one of many nation’s largest counter-terrorism missions in years.
Seven U.S. troopers have been wounded as greater than 200 troops from each side, together with reservists, pursued militants in bunkers over miles of distant terrain, U.S. and Iraqi officers mentioned, including that the scale, scope and focus of the mission underscored the terrorist group’s resurgence in latest months.
They are saying the principle goal was a senior insurgent commander who leads Islamic State operations within the Center East and Europe.
“The operation was directed in opposition to ISIS leaders with the purpose of disrupting and degrading ISIS’s means to plan, set up and conduct assaults in opposition to Iraqi civilians, in addition to in opposition to the US, allies and companions all through the area and past,” the central mentioned in an announcement. military command. on Sunday.
US officers declined to establish the focused ISIS leaders, together with the senior fighter, pending DNA evaluation of the our bodies.
The joint operation in Anbar province got here whilst Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Iraqi army commanders mentioned they might hold the IS risk underneath management with out US-led assist. Iraq and america are negotiating an settlement that will finish the mission of the US-led army coalition in Iraq. There are about 2,500 US troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria.
Nevertheless, Central Command introduced in July that the variety of assaults claimed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria was on monitor to double this 12 months in comparison with the earlier 12 months. ISIS claimed accountability for 153 assaults within the two nations within the first six months of 2024, the command mentioned.
“Iraq has been capable of efficiently comprise the ISIS problem lately, with the group’s operational tempo at an all-time low – however the important resurgence of ISIS subsequent door in Syria is trigger for critical concern,” mentioned Charles Lister, director of Syria and counterterrorism applications of the Center East Institute.
“Thus, these long-standing ISIS protected havens, deep within the Anbar desert, will want constant routing if we’re to keep away from the eventual unfold of ISIS from Syria into Iraq,” Mr Lister mentioned.
America and different allied forces have helped Iraqi forces perform greater than 250 counterterrorism missions since final October, based on a senior U.S. army official.
However this raid was uncommon within the heavy presence of US commandos – greater than 100 US particular operations forces and different troops with a smaller variety of Iraqi troops – within the preliminary helicopter assault early Thursday morning, US officers mentioned.
Iraqi officers mentioned in a statement that the operation started east of a riverbed that runs by the Anbar desert, in an space southwest of Fallujah that they recognized as al-Hazimi.
Fierce preventing ensued by which Iraq mentioned 14 ISIS fighters have been killed; America places the demise toll at 15 insurgents. The ISIS fighters have been armed with “a number of weapons, grenades and explosive ‘suicide belts,'” the Central Command mentioned in an announcement late Friday. There have been no indications of civilian casualties, the command mentioned.
With US surveillance drones watching overhead, greater than 100 Iraqi forces adopted up with a raid the subsequent day, capturing two extra ISIS fighters who had fled the scene in a single day with ISIS paperwork and monetary info, mentioned Mr Lister and American officers.
“One other victory added by the heroes of our armed forces to the report of victories in opposition to terrorism,” Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, mentioned in a statement about H.
The Iraqi authorities not often mentions the U.S. function in operations in opposition to the Islamic State. The Iraqi army assertion on this newest mission barely acknowledged US involvement, noting that the operation was carried out with “intelligence and technical cooperation and coordination from the worldwide coalition.”
On the weekend, throughout a gathering with Main Normal Kevin Leahy, the highest US commander in Baghdad, Mr Sudani mentioned that “the remnants of ISIS not pose a risk to the Iraqi state as they’ve turn into remoted teams hiding in distant areas to keep away from seize.’
He famous that the Iraqi armed forces are “persevering with their operations to trace down all remaining terrorists and their hideouts,” based on statement the prime minister’s press reported.
Mr Sudani, who is predicted to hunt a second time period as prime minister, is underneath strain from Iran, which borders Iraq, and Iran’s allies in Iraq to sharply cut back the US army presence within the nation.
Throughout the operation final week, based on the Central Command, 5 American personnel have been injured, together with one soldier who was evacuated for additional remedy. Two different US service members have been injured in falls throughout the mission, with one soldier being evacuated for additional remedy. U.S. officers mentioned a few of the accidents have been apparently attributable to shrapnel from an explosion, however none have been life-threatening.
NBC Information reported earlier that US servicemen have been injured within the assault.
At its peak, ISIS’s caliphate, or spiritual state, was as giant as Great Britainstretching from the Levant to Southeast Asia, with greater than 40,000 fighters from greater than 80 nations. It seeks to impose its excessive interpretation of Islam, together with by attacking spiritual minority teams and punishing Muslims deemed apostates.
A coalition of more than 80 countries led by america, was created to battle the group, which misplaced its grip on the territory it managed in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019.
Nevertheless, the militants proceed to function within the Anbar desert in Iraq and Syria, with about 2,500 fighters nonetheless at giant there, US officers mentioned.
On Monday, the Central Command introduced that US troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s ally in northeastern Syria, had captured an ISIS chief, Khaled Ahmed al Dandal, who had been serving to 5 ISIS fighters escape from a detention middle in Raqqa. Syria. Two of the escaped ISIS fighters have been recaptured; the opposite three stay at giant, the army mentioned.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, with the assistance of america, are holding greater than 9,000 ISIS detainees in additional than 20 detention amenities in northeastern Syria. ISIS leaders have repeatedly tried to interrupt fighters out of prisons and rebuild their terrorist ranks. One other 43,000 folks, together with relations of ISIS fighters, are being held in al-Hol and al-Roj camps in the identical area, based on the Central Command.
American counterterrorism consultants have lengthy expressed issues that the camps have turn into incubators for the subsequent era of Islamic extremists.
“If numerous these ISIS fighters have been to flee, it could pose an excessive hazard to the area and past,” Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the chief of Central Command, mentioned in an announcement Monday.
Alyssa J. Rubin contributed reporting.
