ICF: ISIS is dying and we are committed to our security partnership with Iraqi forces

Baghdad-INA- Amna Al-Salami

Photo by Safaa Alwan

The International Coalition forces in Iraq confirmed that the Iraqi security forces had proven successful in fighting terrorism and indicated that it had carried out 37,800 sorties in Iraq in the last six years.

The spokesman for the International Coalition, Col. Wayne Marotto, said in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The Iraqi forces have proven their success in fighting terrorism and in cooperation with the coalition forces, and they have recently achieved great victories in difficult terrain and mountainous places, and that the international coalition was very proud in this achievement.”He pointed out that the mission of the International Coalition is to assist the Iraqi forces in pursuing the remnants of ISIS and to follow their movements until Iraq reaches the stage of stability and prosperity."

Foreign presence

Marotto pointed out that "the American forces present in Iraq belong to the international coalition and that the number of these forces is close to 3000 soldiers, and this number depends on the circumstances," noting that "the repositioning of the international coalition forces in Iraq is caused by the handing over of some bases to the Iraqi side as a result of the success they have achieved.

 Air strikes

The spokesman for the International Coalition stated that "the air strikes carried out by the coalition air forces against ISIS terrorist gangs it depends on the request of the Iraqi side in case the Iraqi forces needed help," noting that "the international coalition carried out 37,800 sorties in Iraq in the last six years."

He added that "the international coalition air strikes in the years 2018 and 2019 amounted to 8000 air strikes every year," stressing that "the international coalition forces moved to another stage in which the number of air strikes decreased in the last year due to the improvement in the security situation and the successes achieved by the Iraqi forces. The support will be provided if the Iraqi side will requests it, adding to that the coalition aircraft carried out two operations against ISIS dens in Al-Khanouka and the Hamrin Mountains, with the participation of the Iraqi 16 aircraft last week.

He pointed out that "the purpose of these operations is to target ISIS weapons that they were hiding in the mountains, and to achieve more pressure on these gangs in these difficult places in terms of terrain and to prevent the movement of terrorists."

Defeating ISIS

Marotto stated, "ISIS gangs were defeated on the ground after those gangs controlled large areas of up to (110) thousand square kilometers, and this area is the size of a country such as Sweden or the US state of Virginia, and those gangs were imposing their control on nearly eight million people But it lost all these spaces after the Iraqi security forces achieved very great victories, ”noting that“ ISIS gangs suffered a defeat in terms of territorial control in terms of their control on the ground, and they had nothing left but to carry out limited operations such as assassinations, kidnappings, and ISIS, they have nothing left. ”

Marotto also added that" ISIS gangs are dying and no longer have the ability to survive, and it is possible to kill any number of terrorists, but eliminating them must be by defeating their ideological ideas, and the international coalition is committed to its security partnership with the Iraqi forces," .