BAGHDAD: Iraqi troops and Shiite militia forces attacked Daesh fighters on several fronts in the country’s largest province on Monday, saying the battle to drive the hard-line militants out of Anbar was under way.
A spokesman for the joint operations command said the offensive, which began at dawn, brought together the army, mainly Shiite Hashid Shaabi militias, special forces, police and local Sunni tribal fighters.
Military sources in Anbar said they met fierce resistance from the insurgents, who deployed five suicide car bombs and fired rockets to repel their advance on the city of Fallujah, about 50 km west of Baghdad.
There were also reports of fighting around the provincial capital Ramadi, captured by Daesh two months ago.
“At 5 o’clock this morning operations to liberate Anbar were launched,” the military spokesman said.
Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, angered at the army’s withdrawal from Ramadi in mid-May, initially promised a swift counter-attack.
A US-led coalition of Western and Arab air forces has been bombing Daesh positions across Iraq, supporting Baghdad’s ground forces and its poorly equipped air force.
On Monday, a first batch of four F-16s landed at Balad air base north of Baghdad, an Iraqi air force officer said.
It was not clear whether the planes would take an immediate role in the operations in Anbar.
Hadi Al-Ameri, commander of the largest Shiite force, the Badr Organization, told Iraqi television on Sunday he expected the main assault on Fallujah to take place after the Eid holiday which starts later this week.
Residents in Fallujah and Ramadi reported heavy bombardment of both cities early on Monday.
In Baghdad on Sunday at least 35 people were killed in a series of car bombs and suicide attacks in mainly Shiite districts. A statement in the name of Daesh, issued on Monday, claimed responsibility for some of the blasts.
Iraq forces assault Daesh in Anbar
Iraq forces assault Daesh in Anbar
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
- Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade
DAMASCUS: The UN refugee agency said Sunday that a large number of residents of a camp housing family members of suspected Daesh group militants have left and the Syrian government plans to relocate those who remain.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said in a statement that the agency “has observed a significant decrease in the number of residents in Al-Hol camp in recent weeks.”
“Syrian authorities have informed UNHCR of their plan to relocate the remaining families to Akhtarin camp in Aleppo Governorate (province) and have requested UNHCR’s support to assist the population in the new camp, which we stand ready to provide,” he said.
He added that UNHCR “will continue to support the return and reintegration of Syrians who have departed Al-Hol, as well as those who remain.”
The statement did not say how residents had left the camp or how many remain. Many families are believed to have escaped either during the chaos when government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month or afterward.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government and a government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
At its peak after the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, around 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens. The camp’s residents are mostly children and women, including many wives or widows of IS members.
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility.
Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.
Separately, thousands of accused IS militants who were held in detention centers in northeastern Syria have been transferred to Iraq to stand trial under an agreement with the US
The US military said Friday that it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS — most of them Syrian and Iraqi — were transferred from prisons in Syria. They are now being interrogated in Iraq.
