Counterterror ops rake in 'high-value targets' in Iraq, Syria
Multiple counterterrorism operations against Islamic State hideouts in both Iraq and Syria in recent weeks have taken out men whom officials claim were leaders within the international terrorist organization.
As the fifth anniversary of Iraqi forces’ retaking of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) approaches, counterterrorism operations in the country in recent weeks continue to kill important targets.
These operations have largely focused on areas disputed between the central government and the Kurdistan Region.
IS hideouts and operatives in Iraq’s western desert stretching to the Syrian border have also been targeted, however, as well as in and close to the capital.
On June 15, Iraq’s Counterterrorism Services (CTS) announced they had killed three members of “IS gangs” in Kirkuk in an operation that started at dawn that day. A week before, the CTS had conducted an airdrop into the Anbar desert that resulted in the killing of a local leader there. Kirkuk is an oil-rich region that both Baghdad and Erbil lay claim to but under the central government since late 2017.
