ANBAR – A security source announced to IKH News that on Monday Iraqi Air Force have launched air raids on Islamic State hideaways in the desert area linking Anbar to Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces. According to the source, “It is the first airstrike to be launched on this area within three years”, and the targets are hideouts that were used by IS militants to launch attacks on the areas recently liberated. During the airstrikes many of IS were killed and many IS secret tunnels, weapons and ammunition were destroyed. These operations are combined with those that have been undertaken to recapture villages from IS members: on Sunday, the War Media Cell said in a statement that Iraqi troops have managed to comb over 100 villages and regions falling between south of Hatra and north of Rawa, declaring the end of the first part of second phase of the Upper Euphrates and al-Jazirah Combing Operations. The Joint Operations Command also announced on Saturday that only fifty percent of the regions between Salahuddin and Anbar provinces were liberated. At least 15 Islamic State members were killed in airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition jets in the western desert, the War Media Cell said in a statement. Combing operations are still ongoing: the final victory against Islamic State could be declared only after the full liberation of desert areas from militants.
