By Anas al-Bar | 2024-08-30

"Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) remnants in Iraq have become more active of late, especially in desert areas that are difficult to monitor, security sources said.

Yet Iraq is unlikely to see a repeat of the 2014 scenario, when the extremist group seized control of about a third of the country, they said.

Iraqi intelligence sources said they have detected "serious efforts" on the part of ISIS to form cells in the desert, valleys and wilderness areas.

These efforts are concentrated in a vast area that extends eastwards from the border with Syria into the desert areas of Iraq's Anbar and Ninawa provinces, the valleys of Kirkuk, the Salaheddine desert and Diyala's Hamreen hills.

Vast security sweep

Iraqi military operations to curtail the escalation in ISIS activity are ongoing, Security Media Cell head Maj. Gen. Tahseen al-Khafaji told Al-Fassel.

A recent round of searches for ISIS remnants was carried out on August 8 and 10 with the participation of large ground units from various branches of the security forces, with heavy cover from the Iraqi air force, he said.

Security forces swept vast areas along the border with Syria, in addition to Wadi Hauran in Anbar, the al-Jazeera region in western Ninawa, and Salaheddine.

They seized and destroyed "six ISIS hideouts and safe houses that contained large quantities of weapons, explosives" and other supplies, he said.

A high-level intelligence raid conducted at the same time "resulted in the arrest of one of the most dangerous ISIS leaders in the Anbar district of Rumana," al-Khafaji said.

The ISIS leader, "Abu Safiya al-Iraqi," was "deputy governor" of the group's so-called Wilayat al-Furat (Euphrates province) and played a prominent role in leading many terrorist activities against the security forces, he said.

ISIS in defensive position

"The war on ISIS stripped the group of its power, but it was not totally defeated," military expert Ayad al-Tufan told Al-Fassel.

"The group still has the ability to organize its affairs and expand in areas where security pressure weakens," he warned.

It is not possible therefore to ignore any increase in terrorist activities, and it is "necessary to be vigilant and prepare militarily for them," he said.

But he emphasized the impossibility of a repeat of the attack the group launched on the country a decade ago.

These days, ISIS "is in a defensive position due to border control plans, and the intelligence and air monitoring of its activities, and attacks on its hideouts," he said.