Iraqi security forces have captured four suspected ISIS members, according to a statement issued on 4 Jan 2024. The Iraqi National Security Service said on X, “A joint security coordination between the Counter-Terrorism Cell of our agency and the General Directorate of Operations of the Asayish in the Kurdistan Region led to the arrest of four terrorists who were wanted under the law.” One of those detained is a “specialist in developing ISIS weapons,” the statement added.
بالتنسيق مع الأسايش.. الأمن الوطني يطيح بـ(٤) إرهابيين بينهم مختصون بتصنيع أسلحة داعش
— جهاز الأمن الوطني العراقي (@Inss131) January 4, 2025
أثمر التنسيق الأمني المشترك بين خلية مكافحة الإرهاب في جهازنا والمديرية العامة لعمليات جهاز أسايش إقليم كوردستان عن إلقاء القبض على (٤) إرهابيين مطلوبين وفق أحكام المادة الرابعة من قانون pic.twitter.com/JpGzVulwBE
The statement further said that two of the suspected persons “operated in what is understood as the ‘Development and Military Manufacturing Authority’ linked to the ISIS terrorist units” in Anbar province. “As for the other two suspected terrorists, it was informed that they belong to what was formerly known as the Nineveh and Dijla provinces” and had launched raids against security forces in the past, the security service explained.
The fall of ISIS in Iraq is a defining chapter in the still-unfolding fight against terror in the region. After all, ISIS emerged straight from the sewer of al-Qaeda in Iraq and quickly established itself as a power that practised brutality on an industrial scale, capturing huge chunks of land at unbelievable speed–including in 2014, when it swept through vast portions of Iraq and Syria. ISIS still exists in sleeper cells and through insurgency, even though it lost territorial control by March 2019. Its approximate number of fighters is about 10,000 in Iraq and Syria.
In all, the Iraqi forces along with U.S. Central Command have been successful in operations targeting ISIS, achieving numerous captures of and killing essential leaders. Operations led by the United States over the first half of 2024 have killed as many as 30 ISIS members in Iraq. The conflict resulted in thousands who lost their home and created more humanitarian crises for the region as efforts are going forward to repatriate detainees and reintegrate families affected.
Later, after conquering key cities like Mosul in June 2014, ISIS announced a caliphate led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It was denounced by the world community and this time a coalition went to the ground to target ISIS-held territories in Iraq and Syria with airstrikes in August 2014, but this time from the United States and its allies. It marked the beginning of a long military campaign that was going to degrade ISIS’s capability.
The Iraqi state declared its victory over ISIS as it ceased occupying territories within Iraqi borders at the end of 2017. Although it has lost much of its territorial control, ISIS is still alive. By early 2024, the group had indicated its resurgence, with claims of various attacks in Iraq and Syria. Reports suggest that ISIS is trying to reconstitute its forces, and there has been an increase in operational activity.
