Iraqi army in control of 'unstable' regions after recent wave of attacks

Iraqi army in control of 'unstable' regions after recent wave of attacks
The Iraqi military has said it has rearranged its forces and is in control of regions in the country which saw a spike in attacks in recent weeks, mostly claimed by IS.
2 min read
28 December, 2022
The Iraqi military has deployed in areas which have seen many attacks recently [Getty]

The Iraqi military announced on Wednesday it had taken control of areas which have witnessed a wave of deadly attacks in recent months, particularly in the north.

Despite recent attacks that have seen several casualties among military and security members, the Iraqi army has insisted the situation is better than in 2021.

Many of these attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which despite losing in 2017 the swathes of territory it once controlled in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, still wages a low-level insurgency.

Wednesday’s announcement came a day after the army announced it was rearranging the deployment of its units across different provinces that witnessed a spike in bombings.

"There is significant development in the army’s combat capabilities when pursuing IS elements," said spokesman for the Joint Operations Command in the army, Maj. Gen. Tahsin Al-Khafaji.

Al-Khafaji said military operations have taken place mainly in areas southwest of Kirkuk, north of Diyala, southwest of Nineveh, north of Salaheddin, and the Anbar desert, "all of which are [now] under control of military forces."

He considered the security situation this year to be "much better" than previous years because of the military’s efforts in combatting IS sleeper cells.

Attacks have become much less frequent in the capital, Baghdad, which used to witness near-daily explosions in previous years, claiming the lives of hundreds.

Al-Khafaji’s statement came shortly after the Iraqi Security Media Cell announced it had found six tunnels belonging to IS in the Nineveh governorate’s Al-Hadar district.