The Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) revealed that Iraqi forces targeted a terrorist refuge in the Hawi al-Azim area within the Diyala Operations Command sector. The Security Media Cell commented, “The air force, using F-16 aircraft, carried out a strike founded on precise intelligence from the Military Intelligence Directorate in coordination with the targeting cell of the Joint Operations Command. The strike targeted an influential terrorist hideout in Hawi al-Azim within the Diyala Operations Command sector.”

An Iraqi airstrike has struck a hideout of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Hamrin cliff range that crosses Kirkuk and Salahaddin governorates, with three components of the body inside amid a recent escalation in the Iraqi forces’ anti-ISIS operations. Iraqi state media (INA) quoted a statement by the Security Media Cell that the Targeting Cell of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, in partnership with the Iraqi intelligence, on Sunday “tended to target an important hideout of the fallen ISIS detachments in the Hamrin Mountains within the Diyala Operations Command sector, containing three terrorist members inside.”

“Through the heroic actions of our brave hawks, a devastating airstrike was carried out by F-16 aircraft on this hideout, turning it into rubble over the heads of the terrorists,” read the statement.

“Several hideouts and caves, along with the weapons, ammunition, and logistical materials they contained, were destroyed,” it said.

There were no direct reports of casualties during the walkouts in rugged Hamrin. The Iraqi forces recently have expanded their attacks on the group. At least seven members of the group were extinguished in two separate airstrikes in eastern Salahaddin province, and three ISIS members were also obliterated in an operation in Kirkuk.

ISIS grabbed control of swathes of Iraqi territory during a cheeky offensive in 2014, but it was declared territorially overthrown in 2017 when its so-called caliphate in the land fell as Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, backed by a US-led international coalition, asserted back lands lost to the extremists.

Despite its territorial loss, the group has continued to pose a grave security threat to the country through hit-and-run attacks, bombings and kidnappings in several provinces, particularly in areas differed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which extend across several areas including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin and Kirkuk.

A recent report by The Associated Press indicated that the group continues to recruit members and assert responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including deadly operations in Iran and Russia earlier this year that left scores finished. Its sleeper compartments in Syria and Iraq still carry out raids against government forces in both nations as well as US-backed Syrian fighters, at a time when Iraq’s administration is negotiating with Washington over a potential withdrawal of US troops. Iraq’s air force regularly seeks and targets ISIS hideouts across the country, particularly in the disputed areas.