11 Iraqi PMF Fighters Killed in ISIS Attack

Fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. AFP file photo
Fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. AFP file photo
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11 Iraqi PMF Fighters Killed in ISIS Attack

Fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. AFP file photo
Fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. AFP file photo

At least 11 fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces were killed in an ambush by ISIS north of the capital on Saturday, PMF security sources said.

The militants used light weapons and the cover of darkness to target the PMF east of Tikrit, the capital of Iraq's Salahaddin province, two days after a twin suicide attack claimed by the group killed 32 people in Baghdad.

"ISIS launched an attack on PMF's Brigade 22," said one of the unit's officers Abu Ali al-Maliki.

Maliki told AFP the brigade commander was among those killed before reinforcements from the federal police came to the unit's aid.

PMF security sources said the total toll was 11 dead and 10 wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but security sources interviewed by AFP blamed ISIS.

Iraq declared the group territorially defeated in late 2017, but has continued to battle extremist sleeper cells, mostly in the country's mountainous and desert areas.

Local troops have been aided by a US-led coalition, which first intervened to help fight ISIS in 2014 and continues to provide training, surveillance and airstrikes in support of anti-militant operations.

The coalition has significantly drawn down its troop numbers over the past year, with the US shrinking its force from 5,200 to 2,500.



Lebanon Receives Archival Maps from France on its Borders with Syria

People crosses into Syria through the Masnaa border crossing point in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People crosses into Syria through the Masnaa border crossing point in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
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Lebanon Receives Archival Maps from France on its Borders with Syria

People crosses into Syria through the Masnaa border crossing point in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People crosses into Syria through the Masnaa border crossing point in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon received on Thursday a set of copies of archival documents and maps from France related to its border lines with Syria, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The maps, delivered at the official request of Lebanon, were handed to Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji.

In a post on its X page, the Foreign Ministry said that Rajji received French Ambassador to Lebanon, Hervé Magro, who delivered a set of historical documents and maps from the French archives related to the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The papers are expected to assist Lebanon in the demarcation process of its land borders with neighboring Syria.

Lebanon shares a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border with Syria with no official demarcation at several points.