Phase 4 of Operation Victory Will against Isis has begun in Iraq. The epicenter of the maneuvers is the desert of Anbar, where a large Islamic State resistance pocket has fled from the battlefields in eastern Syria

Phase four of Operation Victory Will against Isis has begun in Iraq. The main area involved will be the desert of Anbar on the border with Syria. The goal is to eliminate the great resistance pocket of the Islamic State in the quadrant. Numerous local militiamen and those escaping from the battle fields from Raqqa to Deir Ezzor are part of it. While Jazeera Storm’s SDFs were advancing, in fact, there was an exodus of Daesh jihadists, who took refuge beyond borders. It seems, however, that some of these have brought with them large sums of money, stolen from their comrades. The funds were used to finance the inaction and contribute to the reorganization of IS. Following this, Baghdad launched the maneuvers. These had so far involved several provinces: from Salahuddin to Nineveh, passing through Diyala and Anbar itself.

The objective of the ISF offensive is twofold: On the one hand, to block to Daesh every escape route to Syria. On the other, close the jihadists in view of the final attack against the resistance pocket

The ISF, also cooperating with the SDF that sealed the Iraqi borders with Syria, first divided the Isis jihadists into smaller groups. These were then isolated and systematically attacked by Victory Will’s troops. Subsequently, the soldiers and the Sciite militants of the PMF have hunted the Islamic State facilitators, to reduce the operational capabilities of the cells in each individual region. Now, the offensive in Anbar aims to permanently destroy any possible escape or supply route to the West and to shut down the Daesh terrorists in a limited area. This is in view of the final attack on the resistance pocket. In parallel, however, maneuvers on a smaller scale continue to track down and neutralize the smaller groups of fundamentalists in Iraq, in order to prevent attacks behind or against the population for revenge.