Iraqi Army Carries out ‘Sophisticated’ Operation against ISIS

A member of Iraqi Federal Police waves an Iraqi flag as they celebrate victory of military operations against ISIS militants in West Mosul. (Reuters file photo)
A member of Iraqi Federal Police waves an Iraqi flag as they celebrate victory of military operations against ISIS militants in West Mosul. (Reuters file photo)
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Iraqi Army Carries out ‘Sophisticated’ Operation against ISIS

A member of Iraqi Federal Police waves an Iraqi flag as they celebrate victory of military operations against ISIS militants in West Mosul. (Reuters file photo)
A member of Iraqi Federal Police waves an Iraqi flag as they celebrate victory of military operations against ISIS militants in West Mosul. (Reuters file photo)

Iraq Defense Ministry spokesperson Yahya Rasoul stressed that military operations against ISIS were ongoing, revealing that a recent “sophisticated” operation led to the arrest of four terrorists.

Rasoul told Iraqi News Agency on Thursday that Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered the continuation of operations against ISIS remnants, based on a strategy set in coordination with intelligence and security agencies.

Sophisticated operations are regularly being carried out, he added.

He went on saying that that the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF) carried out such an operation on Wednesday, covering regions north of Baghdad and in Babel, Kirkuk and Diyala. Four terrorists were detained for being part of a terrorist network aimed at destabilizing security.

Kadhimi is following up on the air and ground operations against ISIS strongholds, he said.

Last week, the army launched a military operation to cleanse vast areas north of Baghdad of ISIS remnants.

Iraq's Security Media Cell announced that the operation was ordered by the PM and supervised by the Joint Operations Command. It added that the troops were backed by the air force, after receiving delicate intelligence information regarding ISIS remnants.



Toll in Syria Opposition-army Fighting Rises to 242

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
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Toll in Syria Opposition-army Fighting Rises to 242

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

More than 240 people, mostly combatants, were killed as intense fighting approached Syria's northern Aleppo city after the opposition launched a major offensive on government-held areas this week, a monitor said Friday.
On Wednesday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied Turkish-backed factions launched an attack on government-held areas in the northwest, triggering the fiercest fighting since 2020, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said fighting reached two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the main northern city of Aleppo, where the group’s artillery shelling on student housing killed four civilians, according to state media.
"The combatants' death toll in the ongoing... operation in the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides has risen to 218," since Wednesday, said the British-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.
In addition to the fighters, it said 24 civilians were killed.
Syrian ally Russia launched air strikes that killed 19 civilians on Thursday, while another civilian had been killed in Syrian army shelling a day earlier, said the Observatory which on Thursday had reported an overall toll of about 200 dead, including the civilians.