Iraqi forces are pushing ahead with their crackdown on Islamic State’s ongoing insurgency, despite the pause in assistance from the United States and coalition partners.
The Iraqi military’s Security Media Cell published photos Monday of a raid in Salahuddin province claiming to have destroyed three IS hideouts while recovering explosives, bomb-making materials and key documents.
بهدف إلاستمرار في ملاحقة العناصر الإرهابية والمطلوبين فضلا عن البحث والتفتيش عن اوكار الإرهاب، نفذت قيادة عمليات سامراء واجب تفتيش في منطقة شرق سامراء (الكوش)…
“Bottom line is Iraq loses the anti-ISIS fight without U.S. support,” according to Jennifer Cafarella, research director at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). “The question is merely how badly and how fast.”
US officials: IS threat overstated
Still, some officials have pushed back, arguing that to some extent, the threat from a resurgent IS has been overstated.
In particular, they point to the terror group’s unwillingness or inability to take advantage of the recent U.S. tensions with Iran.
“It’s surprising that they haven’t found a way,” a senior U.S. defense official told VOA. “It says something about what the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] and the Iraqis have done.”
Coalition officials also contend that Iraqi forces have not gotten the credit they deserve.“Daesh has lost the capability to launch large-scale attacks in Iraq,” British Maj. Gen. Gerald Strickland, the coalition’s deputy commander, said in a statement Sunday, using an Arabic acronym for the terror group. “This speaks volumes to the dedication of the Iraq Security Forces and their desire to bring stability back to their country.”
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said the pause in assistance to Iraqi forces does not mean U.S. forces will hesitate to respond to IS threats.
“When and where ISIS presents a threat to our troops, we will conduct operations with our partners to eliminate the threat,” Caggins said.