The Iraqi army announced the killing of a brigade commander in the army with an officer with the rank of first lieutenant, and two other soldiers were wounded yesterday evening by an ISIS ambush in Anbar Province (western Iraq), according to the Iraqi Security Media Cell.
The Joint Operations Command (affiliated to the Ministry of Defense) said - in a statement - that Brigadier General Ahmed al-Lami, commander of the 29th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Division, was killed while he was pursuing a "terrorist group".
She added that an officer with the rank of first lieutenant was also killed, and two other soldiers (whose rank has not been determined) were wounded during the operation that took place on Tuesday evening in the Al-Aqba area of Heet District (west of Al-Anbar Governorate).
Iraqi forces are subjected from time to time to attacks by the Islamic State in the desert of western Anbar, near the Iraqi border with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and these attacks often expect material and human losses among the Iraqi forces.
Securing borders
As part of the procedures for the organization of the state war, a spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Major General Yahya Rasoul, said that the Iraqi border was largely secured by using modern technology, thermal cameras, and drones to prevent terrorists from infiltrating Iraq.
He stated that military operations to track and pursue the remnants of the Islamic State are continuing to eliminate them, especially on the border strip in northeastern Syria.
He stressed that the security leadership focuses on the deployment of military blocks and checkpoints on the border strip with the rest of the countries bordering Iraq, in order to secure and control them, and to prevent the presence of any "terrorist" elements there, especially the desert border areas.
Three days ago, a military operation was launched in the provinces of Diyala and Salah al-Din, with the participation of forces from the Ministries of Defense and Interior and the Popular Mobilization Authority to search and secure them from the remnants of the Islamic State, as part of the "Heroes of Iraq" operations in its fourth phase.
It is reported that on February 12, the first phase of the military operations "Iraq Heroes" began to pursue the organization of the state, while the second phase was launched on June 2, and the third on 20 of the same month.
The military operation follows an increase in the frequency of ISIS attacks, especially in the region between Kirkuk, Salah al-Din and Diyala, known as the "Triangle of Death" in the country.
In 2017, Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State by reclaiming all its lands, which were estimated to be about a third of the country’s area, and which the organization had invaded in the summer of 2014, but the organization still maintains sleeping cells in large areas of Iraq, and launches attacks between separate periods.