ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — Iraqi safety forces continued their operations in opposition to Islamic State (IS) cells and sources of funding in December with quite a lot of captures and killings because the US “fight mission” in opposition to IS within the nation drew to an finish.
The US fight mission is because of officially end Dec. 31. Army advisers will stay in Iraq on bases in Anbar, Erbil and Baghdad.
Iraqi navy intelligence reportedly captured a person close to Ramadi in Iraq’s Anbar province who was allegedly chargeable for accumulating “zakat” from shepherds, in line with a Dec. 21 tweet by the government-linked Iraqi Safety Media Cell.
Zakat is a non secular obligation in Islam to donate a sure a part of one’s wealth to charitable causes. Few Muslim international locations enforce zakat taxation, however IS established a selected administrative division, Diwan al-Zakat wa al-Sadaqat, for this objective when it nonetheless managed a major quantity of territory between Iraq and Syria.
Iraq declared victory against IS within the nation in December 2017, whereas IS misplaced its final territory throughout the border in Syria — the place many Iraqi IS fighters fled after being pushed out of their dwelling nation — in early 2019.
The final two cities to be retaken by Iraqi safety forces from IS had been Qaim and Rawa in Iraq’s western Anbar area alongside the border with Syria.
Iraqi safety and counterterrorism knowledgeable Fadhil Abu Ragheef introduced by way of Twitter Dec. 10 that Suhaib Hamid Dawood al-Zawi, son of former chief of al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, had been killed in Anbar.
Ragheef famous that this operation had additionally been carried out by the navy intelligence and that Zawi had been killed north of Rutba within the Qaim desert space.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi’s actual title was Hamid Dawood Muhammad Khalil al-Zawi; he was born within the village of al-Zawiyah, near Haditha in Anbar area.
He was the emir of the “Islamic State of Iraq” on the time of his killing by a joint US and Iraqi forces’ operation southwest of Tikrit in 2010 and was reportedly capable of be tracked down solely after the seize of the “wali” (governor) of Baghdad at the moment, Manaf al-Rawi, who was arrested in 2010.
He was succeeded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would develop into the “caliph” of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The group later shortened its title to the Islamic State (IS).
Captures of al-Qaeda and IS commanders have typically proved extra helpful for Iraq than their “elimination.”
In response to questions on particulars of the operation that resulted within the killing of Zawi in Anbar, Ragheef informed this journalist Dec. 12 in Baghdad that the Iraqi intelligence companies had been following Zawi for per week previous to focusing on him and that it’s believed however not sure that the present IS governor for Anbar had been killed with him.
On Dec. 16, the Twitter account of the Particular Operation Joint Activity Drive – Levant reported that the Counterterrorism Directorate of the Kurdistan Area of Iraq had “carried out operations in al-Zaytun space of Erbil, Iraq, which resulted within the seize of two [IS arms smugglers].”
A US Division of Protection Workplace of Inspector Common report issued Nov. 4 notably warned, nonetheless, “The Iraqi Safety Forces demonstrated poor operational safety, an absence of dependable info on operations, complacency and poor air strike coordination and management” within the interval from July 1 to Sept. 30.
It additionally famous that, on the opposite facet of Iraq’s border in an space of northeastern Syria below the management of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), “[The SDF] independently carried out solely human intelligence gathering, counting on the Coalition for different intelligence capabilities. The SDF, with Coalition assist, continued [to] enhance safety at detention services holding ISIS fighters, however CJTF-OIR reported that situations remained substandard, including to the specter of breakouts.”
There was an alleged attempted jailbreak in November of services run by the SDF with many IS detainees inside.
As of the top of final 12 months, the SDF reportedly had been holding at the very least 10,000 IS prisoners in roughly 14 detention facilities, together with 1000’s of Iraqi nationals.
In current months, there have been many killings of Iraqi nationals within the large al-Hol camp in SDF territory for these suspected of being linked to IS members as properly.
And whereas arrests of alleged IS commanders and facilitators do proceed, some analysts additionally see decreased effectiveness of Iraq’s anti-IS operations in current months.
Regional safety analyst Alex Almeida on Dec. 20 famous on Twitter, “About 5 months in the past in early Q3 2021 I began detecting a decline within the effectiveness of ISF [Iraqi Security Operations] clearance ops – not solely routine ‘for present’ Fed Pol [Federal Police] and IA [Iraqi Army] ops however Iraqi CTS [Counterterrorism Services] and Kurdish SOF [Special Operations Forces] ops that often profit from extra intensive” US-led anti-IS worldwide coalition enabling and assist.
He continued, “Now we’re seeing more ops concluding with none reported rebel captures/physique finds” and that “insurgents often have time to displace/scatter” previous to Iraqi air drive taking efficient motion in opposition to them.
Iraqi navy operations at occasions consist of enormous convoys of automobiles within the desert with a lot in the way in which of photograph alternatives however little probability of catching insurgents unaware.
Whether or not fewer “captures/physique finds” is because of a decreased presence of IS within the nation or a worrying development of decreased effectiveness can be seen sooner or later.
For now, makes an attempt are being made to deal with persistent points with security gaps in territory disputed between the central authorities and the Kurdistan Area of Iraq, extensively seen as one of many main the reason why IS cells are capable of proceed working within the nation.
