BAGHDAD, Iraq—Iraqi forces are in full coordination with the Kurdish Peshmerga in monitoring the activities of ISIS remnants in the Hamrin mountain areas and both sides are fighting the group together with help from coalition air forces, said the spokesperson for the joint-operations command.
“There isn’t any security vacuum in this area, but there is coordination at the highest level with the Peshmerga,” Brigadier Yayha Rasool, spokesperson for the Iraqi joint-operations command told Rudaw in Baghdad.
“This terrorist group is constantly changing its locations,” Brig. Rasool added.
He said that movements of members of the group have been noticed recently in the Qarachogh Mountains and “coalition jets have intensely bombed their caves and hideouts.”
After the fall of Mosul and liberation of Hawija west of Kirkuk several thousand ISIS militants are believed to have escaped and taken position along the Hamrin mountain ridge.
Brig. Rasool said that the coalition forces are helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces track down the ISIS militants.
“Before any operation we would have full coordination with coalition jets,” he said. “Very advanced technology is employed in our operations and that’s why all operations are successful.”
Brig. Rasool said that the “terrorists” are constantly on the run as Iraqi forces are in hot pursuit.
“Some of the militants are local and others are foreigners,” he said.
.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
