Iraqi forces strike another blow against Daesh in Anbar

By Suleiman al-Qubaisi

ANBAR, Iraq (AA) - Iraqi forces backed by Sunni tribal volunteers on Thursday recaptured the Jabbab district in Iraq’s western Anbar province from the Daesh terrorist group, according to a local military source.

“Iraqi army units and tribal fighters liberated the Rawa intersection before advancing on ​​the Jabbab district roughly two kilometers west of the town of Rawa,” Walid al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi army colonel, told Anadolu Agency.

“Except for a handful of mines and booby-traps, the terrorists failed to put up any resistance,” he said.

According to al-Dulaimi, Iraqi troops and tribal volunteers -- backed by U.S.-led coalition air power -- are currently advancing on Al-Qaim city.

Earlier Thursday, the Iraqi prime minister’s office announced that the army had launched fresh operations aimed at capturing Anbar’s Daesh-held border towns of Al-Qaim and Rawa.

After overrunning vast territories in Iraq and Syria in mid-2014, Daesh has recently suffered a string of major defeats at the hands of the Iraqi army and a U.S.-led coalition.

In August, the terrorist group lost Tal Afar in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province. One month earlier, the city of Mosul -- once the capital of Daesh’s self-proclaimed "caliphate" -- fell to the army following a nine-month siege.