BAGHDAD, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces Thursday launched a large-scale military operation to dislodge Islamic State (IS) militants from their hideouts in the desert in western Iraq, the Iraqi military said.
Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rasheed Yarallah, commander of western Iraq operations, said in a brief statement that this second phase of the offensive by the army and Hashd Shaabi paramilitary forces aimed to clear the vast desert near the border with Syria, extending to the Sunni heartland in Iraq's northern province Nineveh, Salahudin province north of capital Baghdad, and western province Anbar.
The forces ended the first phase of the offensive on Nov. 17, when they drove out IS militants from the latter's last urban stronghold in Iraq and raised the Iraqi flag over buildings in the city of Rawa and nearby border areas north of the Euphrates River.
The IS seized large swathes of territory in Iraq in 2014. After three years of fierce battle, Iraqi forces have retaken most of the occupied areas, including Iraq's second largest city Mosul.
