Rising oil prices revive the pursuit of ISIS: 700 campaigns since the announcement of victory

[size=52]Rising oil prices revive the pursuit of ISIS: 700 campaigns since the announcement of victory[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]The rise in oil prices in Iraq is stimulating the military operations to hunt down what remains of ISIS in the areas that were under the organization's control. Yesterday, he announced the launch of a new campaign in the west of the country to hunt down the organization, with the participation of 3 operational leaders and from several axes, the second in two weeks.[/size]
[size=45]Looking at the size of the military campaigns that began after the victory was declared at the end of 2017, which amounted to nearly 700 operations, it appears that they are linked to the economic situation. The highest volume of operations carried out during the past four years was in the last 18 months, representing about 70% of all previous campaigns.[/size]
[size=45]The exact number of ISIS fatalities during those operations and during the wars of liberation is only known in the last two years.[/size]
[size=45]In general, the available figures on the number of ISIS dead from 2014 until now, do not exceed 1,500 dead, out of about 50,000 fighters. A great deal of controversy is being raised about the feasibility of the operations carried out after declaring victory over the organization, especially since there is information about the “leakage of plans” to ISIS.[/size]
[size=45]Operation costs[/size]
[size=45]A well-informed security source told Al-Mada that "high costs are borne by the country from carrying out the military operations that take place on a weekly and sometimes bi-weekly basis."[/size]
[size=45]The source does not have an exact figure for the size of the expenditures, but he confirms that fuel for military vehicles only costs monthly in one of the governorates that were under ISIS control, "about 30 million dinars per month."[/size]
[size=45]Haider al-Abadi, the former prime minister, estimated the size of Iraq's losses in the war against ISIS at about $100 billion.[/size]
[size=45]In turn, Saran Al-Aajibi, a member of the Parliament's Security Committee, told Al-Mada that "military operations operate according to intelligence information, and comprehensive campaigns cannot be implemented."[/size]
[size=45]Yesterday, the Security Media Cell announced the launch of the second Al Jazeera Lions operation from ten axes, a week after the end of a military campaign in the north of the country.[/size]
[size=45]Some political circles criticize the repetition of military campaigns, with ISIS continuing to carry out attacks, despite their limitations. There are no accurate figures about the number of military operations that were launched after 2017, nor even the number of ISIS deaths, except for what was recently released.[/size]
[size=45]A week ago, the Counter-Terrorism Service announced the outcome of its operations during the first half of this year.[/size]
[size=45]Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for the agency, said that its operations amounted to 163 operations, in which approximately 107 were killed, including leaders of ISIS, and a large number of them were arrested, in addition to the destruction of many guesthouses and caves.[/size]
[size=45]Last year, the Counter-Terrorism Service announced the implementation of more than 253 military operations against ISIS, while indicating the killing and arrest of about 500 members of the organization.[/size]
[size=45]The agency stated in a press statement that under the directives of "the head of the Counter-Terrorism Service, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab Al-Saadi, the forces of the Counter-Terrorism Service and the tactical units of special operations were able to carry out 253 operations during the current year."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "Through these operations, the apparatus was able to arrest 292 terrorist elements and kill 206 others, as the operations were carried out with air support from the Iraqi army and the international coalition." He pointed out that "the digital security teams of the Counter-Terrorism Service succeeded in tracking down 26,280 accounts of terrorist gangs on social media platforms and instant messaging sites."[/size]
[size=45]In 2016, the military command announced the killing of 722 ISIS militants, compared to 280 militants in 2014.[/size]
[size=45]By following up on military data from 2018 until today, the Counter-Terrorism Service carried out about 200 operations in 2018 and 2019 only, compared to about 70 operations for the rest of the units from 2018 until today.[/size]
[size=45]According to the data of the army, the fight against terrorism, and the Popular Mobilization, the highest number of operations was in the first half of 2021 and 2020. The total operations in the past 6 months (carried out by the army, counter-terrorism, police, and the PMF) amounted to about 180 operations, compared to about 273 operations in Last year, the most prominent of them were "Black Land" and "Lions of the Island".[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, 2018 witnessed the implementation of about 120 operations, most notably the “Revenge of the Martyrs,” and nearly 114 operations in 2019, most notably “Black Dust and the Will of Victory.” The figures show the escalation of operations with the recovery of oil prices.[/size]
[size=45]Parliament allocated about 19 billion dollars for security in the 2012 budget out of about 88 billion dollars, which is the size of the entire budget.[/size]
[size=45]chasing small detachments[/size]
[size=45]Al-Aajibi, a member of the Parliament’s Security Committee, said: “ISIS changed its method of operation after its loss in 2017, and it has become dependent on small detachments, whose members range between 5 and 10 armed.”[/size]
[size=45]And the deputy indicated that "securing the desert and mountainous areas requires millions of armed forces personnel to expand the region, which is unreasonable."[/size]
[size=45]Therefore, the military leadership resorts to using sources from the people, shepherds, and others, to obtain information and launch short operations to address specific targets, most of which are via aviation.[/size]
[size=45]The Security Media Cell stated in its statement yesterday that "the land forces command units, the leaders and the units attached to them have started the implementation of the second Al Jazeera Lions operation through (Al-Jazeera Operations Command - West Nineveh - Salah al-Din)."[/size]
[size=45]The cell said that these operations were carried out "with air support from the air force and the heroic army aviation, and on more than ten axes."[/size]
[size=45]She explained that "this operation comes to search and search for the remains of ISIS terrorist gangs within the sector of responsibility in the west of the country."[/size]
[size=45]This operation came a week after the end of the "Black Land", which was carried out by the fight against terrorism with the "Peshmerga", north of Baghdad, in which at least 6 ISIS elements were killed.[/size]
[size=45]In the same context, a tribal official in north Baghdad confirms that the "Lions of the Jazira" treat a very dangerous area, and ISIS uses it for transportation.[/size]
[size=45]Marwan al-Jabbara, a spokesman for the Salah al-Din clans, told Al-Mada that the organization "uses the areas northeast of Tikrit and Jazira in Anbar and west of Nineveh to reach Syria and vice versa."[/size]
[size=45]Jabara asserts that "ISIS' movements depend on the existence of security vacuums," so he calls for "wider campaigns" and the seizure of land by the security forces.[/size]
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