Iraqi Army Recaptures Hawija from ISIS

Less than two weeks after the Iraqi army launched an attack on one of the last positions controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS), a military commander of this force announced the 'liberation' of the city of Hawija and its surrounding areas in a statement. According to a Reuters report citing this statement published on Thursday, October 5, Iraqi forces recaptured the city of Hawija and some surrounding areas from ISIS after 13 days of fighting. Meanwhile, the statement noted that battles continue in areas to the north and east of the city where ISIS militants are besieged. Hawija is considered the last stronghold of ISIS members in northern Iraq. Currently, the only area in Iraq still under ISIS control is a narrow strip along the western border with Syria. The small city of Hawija is also significant because it is located near the oil city of Kirkuk, which both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq claim ownership of. The recapture of Hawija brings the Iraqi army closer to the Kurdish Peshmerga, who control the city of Kirkuk. Hawija is located 240 kilometers north of Baghdad in Kirkuk province, where it is estimated that between 800 to 1,500 ISIS fighters are still resisting. This city was also targeted in airstrikes by the US-led military coalition a few weeks ago. However, the main assault on the city began when the Iraqi Prime Minister's office announced that the country's military forces had started the operation to liberate Hawija at dawn on Thursday, September 21. Over the past three months, ISIS has lost most of the territories it controlled in Iraq and is increasingly nearing defeat. The group first lost the important and strategic city of Mosul, where its self-proclaimed caliphate began, then surrendered the city of Tal Afar to the Iraqi army, and now Hawija. The operation to liberate Hawija was carried out by Iraqi forces supported by the US and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which are mostly Shia and backed by the Islamic Republic. Moien al-Kadhimi, a senior commander of the PMF, recently claimed that Masoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 'is seeking to gain control over Kirkuk's oil and to export one million barrels of oil daily from this region' and has called for the central government to take control of Kirkuk.