Iraqi forces retake 11 villages near Hawijah from Daesh

The commander of Hawijah liberation operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, announced in a statement on Thursday that the units of the 9th Armored Division as well as the 2nd and 11th brigades of the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, had liberated the villages of Ain Kawa, Hoshterluk, Hasarok, Greater Sarnaj, Lesser Sarnaj, Upper Shandar, Adlah, Fatima, Mahmoud al-Sha’abi, Qouj and Kharbati, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

Yarallah added that army forces and their allies had successfully completed the first phase of the operation to liberate Hawijah, located 240 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, from the grip of the Daesh extremists.

The territorial gains came hours after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of the operation to retake Hawijah.

Hawijah is one of the four Iraqi towns still controlled by Daesh. The other three towns of al-Qa'im, located nearly 400 kilometers northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border, Anah and Rawa are in Anbar province.

Iraqi security forces, tribal fighters retake areas in Anbar

Meanwhile, the head of Anah's municipal council, Abdel Karim al-Ani, stated that Iraqi security forces, backed by allied tribal fighters, had managed to liberate two districts in the northeast of the town.

Ani added that the forces had hoisted the Iraqi national flag over a number of buildings in the liberated areas.

Seven villages liberated northeast of Shirqat, 25 Daesh extremists slain

Separately, Hashd al- Sha’abi fighters have established full control over seven villages in the northeast of al-Shirqat town in Iraq’s central province of Salahuddin.

The media bureau of the pro-government forces stated that 25 Daesh Takfiris were killed during the operations, noting that the volunteer forces also destroyed a car bomb as it raced towards the forces.

KD