Friday operation
Iraqi Air Force kills three ISIS militants in Hamrin Mountains airstrikes
TUZ KHURMATU — Iraqi Air Force F-16 jets conducted airstrikes on several ISIS militant positions in the Hamrin Mountain range at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, killing three militants, according to local authorities.
Mohammed Abdullah, head of the media department of Tuz Khurmatu Police, told 964media, “Based on intelligence information, the locations of these militants were identified, and in coordination with the Iraqi Air Force and the Joint Operations Command, the ISIS hideouts were targeted.”
“In the airstrikes, three ISIS militants were killed, and their technical equipment and food supplies were destroyed within the hideouts,” Abdullah added.
The Hamrin Mountains stretch across several provinces, including Diyala, Salahuddin, and Kirkuk, serving as a natural barrier between the central Iraqi plains and the Zagros Mountains to the east. The rugged terrain has made the region a frequent hideout for militant groups like ISIS, drawing consistent military operations by both the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
Despite ISIS’s territorial defeat in Iraq in 2017, remnants of the group continue to pose a threat, and security forces carry out daily operations to target remaining cells. The Islamic State declared a caliphate in 2014 but lost its last Syrian stronghold in 2019.
In mid-July, clashes between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants in Khan Bani Saad, Diyala governorate, lasted three days and resulted in the deaths of six security personnel, with several others wounded.
Ongoing attacks in Salah al-Din governorate and other regions highlight the persistent danger. On May 14, an attack claimed the lives of an army officer and four soldiers. A vehicle bombing near Suleiman Beg a week later killed one person and injured four others. Another attack the following day killed five family members on the Baiji-Haditha Road in Anbar governorate, attributed to newly planted improvised explosive devices.
A United Nations report from January estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 ISIS fighters remain active in Iraq and Syria, posing a continuing security challenge. On July 16, U.S. Central Command warned that ISIS is working to “reconstitute” in Iraq and Syria, with the number of attacks nearly doubling compared to the previous year.
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