Aerial attacks kill 30 Daesh militants in Iraq’s troubled Anbar

Over two dozen members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group have been killed in airstrikes against their positions in Iraq’s western province of Anbar.

Major General Ismail al-Mahlawi, commander of the Anbar operations, told al-Sumaria television on Saturday that the military aircraft conducted a string of aerial attacks against designated targets in the Albu Ali Jassim area of Jazirah  Ramadi region, killing at least 30 Daesh terrorists.

An unnamed security source in the northern province of Kirkuk also said Iraqi fighter jets bombarded Daesh camps in the town of Hawijah, situated about 282 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, leaving scores of the Takfiris dead and injured.

The source added that Daesh has beefed up its terror activities inside Hawijah in the wake of the strikes, and transferred a large number of its wounded members to local hospitals and clinics.

Additionally, Major General Najim Abdullah al-Jubouri, commander of the Nineveh operations, stated that Iraqi army units have received sophisticated weapons and munitions in preparation for the military operation to liberate Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the main Daesh stronghold in the country.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iraq says an estimated 700,000 people would need assistance once the offensive gets underway.

For months, Iraq has been preparing for the assault on Daesh in Mosul, which slipped into the hands of the terrorists in 2014.

Government forces have managed to recapture all the other places that Daesh had seized, with the last major one being the city of Fallujah, which was liberated in late June.

The operation for Mosul is highly significant as estimates say about half of the city’s pre-war population of two million still remains there.

Daesh, based on intelligence information, has reportedly between 4,000 and 5,000 terrorists in the city, making the situation more complicated.