ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi military and allied militia forces announced on Friday that they had liberated two more areas from Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Anbar, shortly after the recapture of the Sunni town of Shargat in Salahaddin province on Thursday.
“After a fierce confrontation, the Iraqi armed forces, with the support from the US-led coalition Iraqi jets and the Hashd al-Shaabi, Baghdad Jazira in northeastern Ramadi in Anbar province was liberated from ISIS militants,” read the Iraqi joint operation command.
Meanwhile, Nazim Jaghefi, a Hashd al-Shaabi official, announced that “the joint forces liberated Baghdad Jazira, killing tens of ISIS militants.”
“Dolab Jazira in Hit town north of Ramadi was also liberated,” he added.
Jaghefi described the liberated Dolab Jazira as “a wide open terrain which is also important since it is a juncture for many other areas in the region, which will be targeted by the Iraqi forces in future offensives,” to push back ISIS elements out of the region.
The Iraqi army freed Shargat in northern Iraq on Thursday after reaching the center of the town and capturing its public hospital, sending ISIS militants fleeing out, a provincial official said.
Last week, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced a military operation to drive ISIS out of areas under the group’s control, including Shargat, Baghdadi Jazira and some areas in Hit town western Anbar.
In the north ISIS is still in three strategic towns in Kirkuk province, Riaz, Rashdad and Hawija.
Peshmerga forces aim to push forward to liberate Riaz and Rashad, another two towns held by the Islamic State (ISIS) for two years, before they liberate Hawija, also held by the militants.
According to officials, Iraq has decided to launch the looming battle for Mosul by the end of this year, to put an end to the militants' presence in the country after they took over a third of the country back in the summer of 2014.
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