In the latest developments, the Baghdad operations commander, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Salim, revealed on Wednesday the liquidation of one of the most prominent leaders of the Islamic State in Iraq, which extremists call the “Wali of northern Baghdad”, called Adnan Al-Lahibi, in the Tarmiya district, north of the capital.
Baghdad’s operations commander indicated significant gains as a result of this operation, in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA), where he said that the murder of the so-called governor of northern Baghdad had a great impact and in several directions. Al-Taji to the governorate of Salah Al-Din, where the district of Dujail is located, and the organization will be exposed to confusion in the transmission of orders between its members, since it is a link between the terrorist detachments of this sector and their references from which they receive orders.
And he considered that “the Islamic State is currently undergoing multiple strikes in various sectors, including Diyala and Kirkuk, and not only in northern Baghdad. Its important leaders will fall, and the loss of its leadership elements will affect it” .
As for the other gain, it is moral, because “the assassination of the governor of northern Baghdad will negatively affect the morale of terrorist elements, boost the morale of our fighters in the security forces and intelligence agencies, and encourage them to continue to pursue the remaining elements of ISIS north of Baghdad and in the rest of the areas.”
The district of Al-Tarmiya, administratively attached to Baghdad and considered as the northern belt of the capital, is characterized by the presence of tens of kilometers of groves of trees on both banks of the Tigris, which the State exploits Islam for camouflage and disguise. .
Experts pointed to the sensitive geographical location of Al-Tarmiya, being the northern part of Baghdad and adjacent to the governorates of Diyala to the east, Salah al-Din to the north and Anbar to the west.
Expert opinion
Raed Al-Azzawi, director of the Al-Amsar Center for Strategic Studies, said in an interview with Sky News Arabia:
• This operation is one of the most important Iraqi security operations against ISIS, because Adnan Al-Luhaibi is one of the main planners within the ISIS Muta division, and he is one of the planners of numerous terrorist operations carried out by the sniper battalion, which is one of the battalions trained by the organization in recent times.
• The assassination of the governor of northern Baghdad at this time deals a severe blow to the Islamic State, which is suffering from a dislocation in the ranks of its cells, especially in the vicinity of Baghdad, in the light of the successive blows that the organization has received, especially in the past three months, as it lost over 100 of its members in the month of May alone.
• However, the assassination of al-Luhaibi and other leaders in the so-called northern state of Baghdad does not necessarily mean that the strength of IS will weaken, which is achieved through the dismantling of cells of the organization spread across various regions.
• This is what the Sudanese government is doing, which in the past six months has dealt the most severe blows to the organization and killed many of its leaders and members, especially in the areas surrounding and adjacent to the capital. in Kirkuk, such as Wadi al-Shay, and remote border areas with Syria in western Iraq.
• This is why the organization is groaning under the weight of these severe preemptive strikes, but ISIS will not decline quickly and it will try to reorganize its ranks, rearrange its cards and change tactics, which should be supported by the Iraqi security authorities.
In the same context, Iraqi security and political expert Ali al-Baydar said in an interview with Sky News Arabia:
• There is no doubt that such qualitative operations positively reflect the overall war effort in Iraq against Daesh, weaken its morale and compromise its ability to continue its terrorist operations.
• However, one must be careful about the possibility that the remnants of ISIS and its sleeper cells will retaliate against the murder of this prominent leader of the organization, not necessarily only in the northern belt of Baghdad, but also in other regions.
• Consequently, the security forces must redouble their intelligence efforts by carrying out surprise preventive operations, which will lead to the complete crushing of the organization in the areas north of Baghdad and in the various Iraqi provinces where the remnants of the army are present. organization and its remnants, especially in the north and west of the country.
• The security initiative is active and Iraqi combat readiness against terrorism is very high, which explains the increasing successes achieved by Iraqi forces in their operations against ISIS remnants and their hideouts. which indicates that the coordination and harmony between the various security services in their war against the Islamic State is reflected in the success on the ground and helps to strengthen stability at different political, security and economic levels.
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