Iraqi Chief of Staff visits Kirkuk to follow up on anti-ISIS operations

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army, Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, on Thursday arrived in Kirkuk Province to inspect security units and the current security situation in the province, the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on Thursday.

Yarallah reportedly visited the province to follow up on security plans to eliminate ISIS remnants. INA reported that "he issued a number of directives to the security forces."

Although ISIS has been territorially announced defeated since 2017, the group is still capable of launching small-scale attacks against civilians and security targets. Especially in the countryside of the Province of Kirkuk, where ISIS have killed and kidnapped civilians for ransom.

The ISIS militants especially are active in the security vacuum created by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed forces by pushing out Peshmerga forces from the disputed territories after Kurdistan Region's September 2017 independence referendum.

After, in late August #Daesh killed two #Kurdish civilians in the 4th sector, on the morning of Sep 13th #Peshmerga did a clearing operation in Qara Hassan vicinity, the villages of Jawal Bor & Akhor Gurji & those areas where terrorists movement & safe house's were suspected. pic.twitter.com/hCXhJiCjUJ

— Ministry of Peshmerga (@KRG_MOPE) September 13, 2022

Peshmerga Forces on Tuesday and Wednesday carried out operations against ISIS sleeper cells in Qara Hasan on the border of the Kirkuk province after two Kurds were killed by ISIS militants in late August.

Read More: Iraqi forces launch a fresh operation against ISIS in Kirkuk  

Moreover, Iraqi forces carried out an operation against the remnants of ISIS in the remote areas between Kirkuk and Nineveh in late August.

The US-coalition has pushed for more cooperation between Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces to fill the security vacuum in the disputed territories.