Iraqi forces uncover former ISIS hideout in Anbar desert

ANBAR – Iraq’s Military Intelligence Directorate on Tuesday said its forces discovered and raided a former Islamic State hideout in the Anbar desert, where they found weapons and ammunition later destroyed on site.

In a statement, the directorate said, “Following the operational approach adopted by the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Intelligence and Security Division of the 7th Infantry Division raided one of ISIS’s hideouts previously used before the liberation of the cities, in Qaim district, Anbar.”

It added that worn-out weapons and ammunition were found inside the site, and that the division’s engineering battalion removed and destroyed the materials at the location.

ISIS, sometimes called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, began as an armed faction in Iraq and in June 2014 declared a “caliphate” after seizing large areas in Iraq, including Mosul, and parts of Syria. The group lost most of the territory it once held by November 2017 following military campaigns by Iraqi forces and international partners.

Although it no longer controls territory, ISIS remnants continue to operate as an underground insurgency, using small cells, roadside bombs and hit-and-run attacks in remote areas such as parts of Anbar, Diyala, Salah al-Din and Kirkuk.