Iraqi forces discover, destroy 11 Daesh cross-border tunnels into eastern Syria

Iraqi border guards have uncovered and destroyed nearly a dozen long tunnels apparently used by members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group to sneak through the desert areas of the country’s western province of Anbar into Dayr al-Zawr province in neighboring Syria. 

A military source, requesting not to be named, said on Wednesday that government troops had found the tunnels over the past two weeks, adding that one of them was nearly three kilometers long and allowed the extremists to pass through it without having to crawl or bend, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

The source added that Iraqi border forces also managed to thwart three attempts by Daesh Takfiris as they were trying to infiltrate into the country, exchanging heavy gunfire with the terrorists.

Scores of the militants were killed and injured in the process.

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The leader of a powerful Iraqi militia group says the US is supporting Daesh in order to justify the presence of American troops in Iraq.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Monday that it had dismantled the biggest Daesh terror cell in Anbar province, and captured 186 militants who were wanted for terrorist attacks across the country.

“A joint force busted the biggest Daesh cell in Anbar, which was responsible for bomb attacks, planting roadside bombs and assassination of military personnel on the international highway west of the country,” Brigadier General Saad Maan, Spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command, said in a joint press conference with the head of Anbar's provincial council, Ahmed al-Alwani.

Maan noted that the detained extremist militants have signed their confessions and some of them have even been sentenced to death.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against Daesh in the country on December 9, 2017.

On July 10 that year, he had formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

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In the run-up to Mosul's liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.