Iraqi Forces to Kick off Imminent Operation to Purge Border with Syria of Terrorists

General Rasoul said that the Iraqi forces will launch complementary operation to free Anbar desert and the regions in the upper side of the Euphrates River in Western Iraq up to the borders with Syria in the coming days.

He further said that the pro-government forces captured 14,000 sq/km out of 29,000 sq/km of land in Anbar desert, including 175 villages, 5 bridges and strategic passageways in the first phase of the operation.

Media sources said on Thursday that they gained access to letters sent by ISIL ringleader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to other commanders of the terrorist group in Libya after his repeated failures in Syria and Iraq.

The Arabic edition of al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Thursday that al-Baghdadi’s letters, some of them written last year and some of them in the past few weeks, indicated that the ISIL leader was after making up for his defeats in Syria and Iraq by calling on the terrorist groups’ commanders and members to go to Libya.

It added that the letters written to 13 of al-Baghdadi’s deputies and commanders in Libya stressed the need for them to use Southern Libya as a place for recruiting the members who have fled from the East in a bid to finally target Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.