ISIS reorganize their ranks to attack liberated cities

ISIS organization is mobilizing its elements in the areas that are still under their control in Anbar province, in order to attack the cities of the province, which were liberated in earlier times.

"Paramilitary troops fighting ISIS alongside government forces will not be disbanded, and shall partake in the upcoming offensives targeting the group’s havens," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Saturday.
 
"There is an insistence that everyone takes part in the battle for the liberation of Tal Afar," Abadi said during a celebration event held by al-Abbass division, a component of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the Shia-dominated, Iran-backed paramilitary troops. He was referring to the western Nineveh town which remains a major Islamic State stronghold and which has been set as the target for future military operations.
 
"The Popular Mobilization is under the command of the clergy and the state. It belongs to Iraqis and it shall not be disbanded," the prime minister said.

Abadi’s remarks came one day after Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr called to ensure the PMF were operating under the state’s oversight.

Iraqi Federal Police forces, on Saturday, ran into more underground tunnels dug by Islamic State militants in Mosul, continuing operations to comb the city for group vestiges.
 
The service’s chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said a network of underground tunnels was discovered south of the Old City, the medieval neighborhood from which Islamic State declared its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq in 2014. He also said the forces seized a stash of projectiles belonging to the group.

An Iraqi army officer was killed and five soldiers were injured when an explosive device went off west of Baqubah, Diyala, a police source in the province was quoted saying.
 
DPA quoted the source saying that the bomb, planted on the side of a road in al-Bawiya village, east of Baqubah, exploded in a passing army patrol. An officer was killed while other lower ranking personnel were wounded as a result of the blast.

On the other hand, Iraqi Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr has urged to subject paramilitary forces fighting the Islamic State to state control, further adding to the uniqueness of his stances from mainstream Shia politicians.

Delivering a speech to hundreds of thousands of his followers at al-Tahrir Square in Baghdad, al-Sadr urged to incorporate the Popular Mobilization Forces within the official Iraqi army and ensure it operates under the state’s oversight. He stressed on the importance of "placing weapons within the state’s hands exclusively".