Local intelligence key to Anbar anti-IS operations
As Islamic State fighters flee eastern Syria, Iraqi forces in the Anbar desert are conducting operations to rout out remaining fighters.
AL-OBEIDY, Iraq — The Iraqi army's recent operations in western Anbar aim to rout out Islamic State (IS) cells in the province and prevent cross-border infiltration, as the group’s stronghold in Syria grows ever smaller.
Anbar’s vast desert, myriad security forces, porous border and numerous unsalaried local fighters are particular to the region, as are strong tribal links.
Iraqi forces must make use of local intelligence in an area that was once a stronghold of the "resistance" in post-2003 Iraq, as many locals commonly refer to anti-US activities in that period, adding "before it turned into al-Qaeda."
Many of these men later went on to fight al-Qaeda and then IS.
