Iraq has in recent weeks stepped up counterterrorism operations in its western desert and other areas amid risks of an imminent flare-up of conflict in eastern Syria, with potential repercussions in the regional fight against the Islamic State (IS).

On June 19, the government-linked Iraqi Security Media Cell announced that an operation in coordination with the Joint Operations Command and intelligence services had killed the IS "wali," or governor, for the Anbar region and “three of his companions.”

The wali, who the statement said went by the name Abu Mansour, was killed in the Rutba desert after multiple operations in recent months by Iraq’s Counterterrorism Services (CTS) in that part of Iraq’s largest but sparsely populated province.

Al-Monitor accompanied the CTS last March on one of these operations into the Rutba desert. The forces stopped in shepherds’ encampments and requested information, searched caves identified via coordinates that had signs of the recent presence of alleged IS fighters, and destroyed motorcycles and other things that seemed to have been used by the fighters in the apparent hideouts found.