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On Thursday, the Iraqi Poplar Mobilization Units (PMU) media wing announced that the operation to liberate al-Hawijah area south west of Kirkuk will be launched soon. According to Iraqi sources, the operation will be called “We Are Coming Hawijah”.
Iraqi sources said that more than 1,000 ISIS fighters and tens of thousands of civilians are in al-Hawijah area. ISIS fighters in al-Hawijah are well armed and launched many successful attacks in 2017, including one on al-Sharqat town northwest of al-Hawijah in early August.
Furthermore, ISIS fighters have used al-Hawijah as a base to launch several suicide attacks on US-led collation bases in the area of Kirkuk city. The last attack was against the Kiwan base near Kirkuk on May 7.
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It’s still unknown if the PMU will indeed participate in al-Hawijah operation. On the other side it’s almost confirmed that the Peshmerga will have a bigger rule in this operation.
Earlier on Thursday, Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the full liberation of Tal Afar area from ISIS.
“Where ever you are, we are coming to Liberate, you can only die or surrender” Abadi said, possibly hinting at ISIS in al-Hawijah.
