The battle for the Iraqi city of Hawija, 28 miles west of Kirkuk, has been postponed several times. Disagreements around military operations have delayed the capture of the city from Islamic State (IS) militants. Military sources from the Joint Operations Command told Al-Monitor that Hawija will be next after the fall of Mosul.
In late January, Iraqi member of parliament Shakhwan Abdullah, a member of parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, promised that Hawija operations would start soon. Yet the timeline for retaking Hawija, which had been set for October, has been delayed more than half a year now.
