Iraqi forces, tribal fighter thwart Daesh onslaught on Amiriyah Fallujah

Iraqi security personnel, backed by pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units and tribal fighters, have managed to repel a massive offensive by members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the country’s beleaguered western province of al-Anbar.

Major General Hadi Razij, the provincial police chief, told al-Sumaria television network on Wednesday that security forces and Lawa al-Amiriyah al-Samoud tribesmen, receiving support by Iraqi fighter jets and artillery units, repelled a Daesh onslaught on the town of Amiriyah Fallujah, located about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of Fallujah.

He added that 450 vehicles belonging to the extremists were also destroyed in the process.

Separately, Khamis al-Issawi, a Lawa al-Amiriyah al-Samoud tribal leader, said his fighters and security forces had destroyed a Daesh base on the fringes of Amiriyah Fallujah, noting that three tribesmen had been killed and six others injured during the clashes with Daesh militants.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive in the country in June 2014.

Iraqi government forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units, have been pushing the militants out of the country’s territory.

Iraqi forces liberated Fallujah on June 17.

On Tuesday, elite counter-terrorism forces and their allies wrested control over Telol al-Baj area, which lies on the highway linking the town of al-Shirqat, situated about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, to the southern part of Mosul.

“Security personnel have liberated Telol al-Baj, and several units have been deployed four kilometers (2.4 miles) away from the area to prevent the infiltration of vehicles rigged with explosives into the region,” Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, said.

He said Iraqi forces had inflicted heavy losses on the ranks of Daesh terrorists in Telol al-Baj.