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UNIPATH STAFF
In a preemptive operation code-named “Promise of Truth,” the Iraqi Armed Forces eliminated several Daesh operatives in Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salah al-Din governorates in March 2024.
At least 10 terrorists were killed, including the wali (the historical Islamic word for governor) of Al-Jazeera and Al-Baaj, two of his assistants, as well as two others in Rawa district killed in an airstrike.
Iraq ordered the strikes after intelligence confirmed Daesh was plotting attacks during Ramadan.
By intensifying attacks during religious celebrations, the terrorist group tries to inspire supporters and terrorize citizens to turn them against their government and security forces.
Since its territorial defeat in December 2017 by the Iraqi Armed Forces backed by a U.S.-led global coalition, Daesh has sought to regroup while launching sporadic low-intensity attacks on military and civilian targets. Iraqi Security Forces continue to pursue Daesh remnants, following them to their desert and mountain hideouts.
In January 2024, the U.N. Secretary-General’s 18th biannual report on Daesh stated: “The group’s capabilities in its core areas of Iraq and Syria remain degraded, but that it has continued to operate as a low-intensity insurgency in remote and rural areas, with an estimated combined strength of between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters in these countries.”
Sources: The United Nations, Alhurra, Al Sharq Al Awsat