Five ISIS operatives, including two senior officials, killed in Iraq operation

Five Islamic State jihadists, including a “governor” and a religious leader of the organization, were killed during an operation by Iraqi security forces in the town of Tarmiya., north of the capital, Baghdad, which also claimed the lives of six members of the mission.

The operation was jointly developed by the Baghdad Military Operations Command, militias of the Popular mobilization forces (or Hashd al Shaabi, in Arabic) and the strength of the Sunni tribal militia Hashd al Ashairi, with the help of the Iraqi Air Force, which carried out four airstrikes in the region, according to the military intelligence service of the army.

The operation took place in a house in Tarmiya, where the Five slain ISIS operatives schedule a meeting to plan attacks in Baghdad, according to the press release, collected by the Kurdish news agency Rudaw.

Five members of the mission also died in the attack: a soldier, three members of the Popular Mobilization Forces and two members of Hashd al Ashairi.

The two deceased senior ISIS operatives were identified as the “governor” of the Islamic State in Tarmiyaand the “mufti” for the north of Baghdad.

Iraq has stepped up its operations against the Islamic State, now reduced to a dangerous roving terrorist force, after a double suicide bombing in Tayaran Square in Baghdad last month that killed 32 people and injured 100 others.

21 jihadists killed in Syria

Likewise, at least 21 Islamic State jihadists killed in several Russian air force bombings in northern Syriathe Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Saturday.

“At least 130 Russian aviation airstrikes have been recorded in the past 24 hours against ISIS targets in an area between the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Raqa” in northern Syria, OSDH said, noting that at least 21 militants had been killed.

There was also Russian attacks in the Homs desert (center) and Deir Ezzor (east) ”.

The bombings continued on Saturday morning and are undoubtedly a response to the attacks carried out by ISIS on Friday against regime forces and their allies, in which eight members of a pro-Damascus militia were killed , according to OSDH.

Despite the fact that the so-called ISIS caliphate was defeated in March 2019, the jihadist group often commits attacks against Siria, in particular in the region of Homs to the region of Deir Ezzor, on the border with Iraq.

In recent months they have been frequent fighting between jihadists and forces linked to the Damascus authorities in this region of the country.

Since March 2019, more than 1,300 regime fighters have died in these clashes, in addition to 145 members of pro-Iranian militias, according to the OSDH, which also points out that 750 jihadists have lost their lives.

Since 2011, the war in Syria has killed more than 387,000 and caused the forced displacement of several million people.

Since 2015, Russia has been supporting the Syrian government forces and thanks to this crucial support, Bashar al Assad has been able to regain control of part of the territory he lost at the start of the conflict.

(With information from Europa Press and AFP)

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