Revenge: Iraqi security forces besiege ISIS with preemptive strikes

The Iraqi forces are intensifying their operations against ISIS, especially after the operation that the terrorist organization carried out recently in Kirkuk Governorate in northern Iraq, which claimed the life of a member of the security forces and wounded an officer.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell announced on Sunday, July 2 that, according to the directives of the Joint Operations Command to intensify the accurate intelligence effort and collect information on the presence of terrorist elements, the targeting cell of the Joint Operations Command and the Falcons Cell in the Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Interior were able to monitor three ISIS elements in the Turklan area of Kirkuk Governorate.

Following this information, a force from the Eighth Division of the Iraqi Army within the Kirkuk Operations Command headed to the location, clashed with the militants, and managed to surround and kill them, as well as detonate the explosive belts they were wearing. As a result, a member of the security forces was killed and an officer was wounded. The force carrying out the duty also seized three rifles.

Revenge operations

Iraqi security expert Mokhlad Hazem said in exclusive statements to the Reference that the recent Iraqi security operations are tantamount to retaliatory operations for the attack carried out by ISIS elements on some military elements.

Hazem noted that the security forces have been following up on information, arresting some elements and obtaining information from them that include locations for the terrorist organization’s members, following up, monitoring and setting up ambushes. He explained that in the intelligence concept, it is the preemptive operations that are successful in achieving a goal and an end, because Iraq is in the stage of an intelligence war, and in intelligence wars, preemptive operations provide more positive results, indicating that the Iraqi forces were previously on the defensive and not on the offensive, so the forces were exposed to losses because of the organization's operations against some military and security sectors, especially in the regions of Kirkuk, Diyala and Nineveh.

Desert havens

Hazem pointed out that these areas are always havens for ISIS because of their desert nature in part and the valleys that contain them, such as Wadi Al-Shay, Wadi Zghitun and Jallab. Many of these areas, after visits to them, are remote areas that are not maintained by security and can only be controlled through the availability of drones that may be in the air for 24 hours, in rotation, with the aim of monitoring the movements of these terrorist elements, as well as preventing infiltration from outside the borders.

Hazem concluded his statements by saying that the battle is basically an intelligence battle, in which information is needed, and citizens are the basis for obtaining intelligence information, so it is necessary to build bridges of trust between the citizens and the security services, as well as to publish sources of information in these areas, especially with the Bedouins and shepherds who are present in these desert areas, in light of the lack of some intelligence technology through which it is possible to follow the movements of these terrorist elements.