Iraqi forces clear Daesh from western area

By Arif Yusuf and Ali Semerci

BAGHDAD (AA) – Iraqi forces are engaging in mopping up operations to clear out remaining pockets of Daesh fighters.

“Security forces cleared a 14,000-square-meter [area] in the Al-Jazeeratu’l Garbiyye region of western Anbar city,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Wednesday, speaking at a news conference following a government meeting in the capital, Baghdad.

Al-Ibadi added that migrants who had left the region due to violence had returned to the liberated zone.

On Nov. 21, al-Ibadi said Daesh's presence in Iraq was “militarily” finished and all cities had been retaken, adding security forces were carrying out mopping up operations stretching from the desert area of Al-Jazeera to the Syrian border.

Daesh has recently suffered a string of crushing defeats in both Iraq and Syria after overrunning vast swathes of territory in both countries in mid-2014.

On Nov. 17, Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji declared that Daesh’s presence in Iraq had effectively come to an end following the “liberation” of the city of Rawa in western Anbar province.