Iraq Launches Operation to Pursue ISIS Elements After Recent Attacks

Ruins seen after an ISIS attack on one of the Popular Mobilization Forces checkpoints in Mukaishefah town, south of Tikrit, at dawn on Saturday, May 2, 2020. (AFP)
Ruins seen after an ISIS attack on one of the Popular Mobilization Forces checkpoints in Mukaishefah town, south of Tikrit, at dawn on Saturday, May 2, 2020. (AFP)
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Iraq Launches Operation to Pursue ISIS Elements After Recent Attacks

Ruins seen after an ISIS attack on one of the Popular Mobilization Forces checkpoints in Mukaishefah town, south of Tikrit, at dawn on Saturday, May 2, 2020. (AFP)
Ruins seen after an ISIS attack on one of the Popular Mobilization Forces checkpoints in Mukaishefah town, south of Tikrit, at dawn on Saturday, May 2, 2020. (AFP)

Iraqi security forces began Sunday large-scale military operations to purse ISIS remnants.

This military campaign comes in response to the recent attacks launched by the terrorist organization in a number of Iraqi regions, in which security personnel and elements from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were killed.

According to the semi-official Al-Iraqiya TV channel, the operations were launched in line with orders by Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and focused on the outskirts of Salah al-Din province and the west of Diyala and Anbar provinces.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Mosul city said some merchants have recently complained about the ISIS elements again imposing royalties on them.

This brings to mind the group's blackmail and the imposition of royalties on the city's merchants and riches before seizing it in June 2014.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the current extortion and royalties are practiced on a small scale and mostly in secret.

“Some traders respond to their demands, fearing retaliation by the terrorist elements and due to their lack of confidence in the government's measures against ISIS.”

“The trust of citizens in Mosul and Nineveh’s areas in the security forces and the PMF factions are declining,” the source stressed, noting that some of their elements were involved in similar corruption and blackmailing acts.

ISIS captured most of Nineveh province’s areas after June 2014 before being recaptured by Iraqi security forces in July 2017.

Hisham al-Hashemi, a specialist on extremist movements, said ISIS elements will most likely impose royalties and practice extortions on Nineveh’s citizens.

Hashemi told Asharq Al-Awsat that according to the confessions of detainees from the western Nineveh areas, ISIS had completed organizing its self-financing network in late 2019.

“ISIS collects royalties and investments estimated at about $100,000 a day from multiple trades, including arms, oil, medicines, and cigarettes, and takes royalties from transport vehicles and oil tanks,” the expert added.



Tunisians Protest Against President as Jailed Politicians Begin Hunger Strike

Figures detained on conspiracy charges in Tunisia - ( Ghazi Chaouachi official social media page)
Figures detained on conspiracy charges in Tunisia - ( Ghazi Chaouachi official social media page)
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Tunisians Protest Against President as Jailed Politicians Begin Hunger Strike

Figures detained on conspiracy charges in Tunisia - ( Ghazi Chaouachi official social media page)
Figures detained on conspiracy charges in Tunisia - ( Ghazi Chaouachi official social media page)

Hundreds of Tunisians staged two protest rallies on Wednesday against what they say is the authoritarian rule of President Kais Saied and demanded the release of political prisoners, while six detained opposition figures held a hunger strike.

Saied seized extra powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary. The opposition described his move as a coup, Reuters reported.

Supporters of the opposition Free Constitutional Party gathered in the capital Tunis to demand the release of their detained leader Abir Moussi. They chanted slogans such as "Saied, dictator, your turn has come," and "Free Abir".

"What is happening is true tyranny, no freedom for the opposition, no freedom for the media. Any word can send you to prison," one protester, Hayat Ayari, told Reuters.

Hundreds of supporters of another opposition party, the Salvation Front, staged a separate rally, also in Tunis, to demand the release of detained politicians, activists and journalists.

Six prominent opposition figures detained on conspiracy charges have begun a hunger strike in prison to protest against their impending trial, their lawyers said on Wednesday.

Abdelhamid Jelassi, Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Khiyam Turki, Ridha Belhaj, Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi - all detained in 2023 during a crackdown on the opposition - have refused to participate in what they say is an "unfair trial".

Saied said in 2023 that the detainees were "traitors and terrorists" and that the judges who acquitted them were their accomplices.

The detainees have denied any wrongdoing and have said they were preparing an initiative aimed at uniting Tunisia's fragmented opposition.

Most leaders of political parties are now in prison including two of Saied's most prominent opponents, Moussi and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the Ennahda party.

The government says there is democracy in Tunisia and Saied says he will not be a dictator, but that what he calls a corrupt elite must be held accountable.