Shafaq News/ Diyala operations command sees that new war against ISIS is based on intelligence information in the first place for the difficulty of tracking them in mountains and rugged groves, especially with the organization’s escalated attacks in Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salahuddin.

 Regarding this issue, Diyala operations commander, Major General Ghassan Al-Ezzi stated to Shafaq News agency, “ISIS has lost 80% of its combat capabilities due to the surprising strikes that foiled many of its plans -prior occurrence- and pushed the organization to desperately resort to guerrilla warfare from time to time.

As for the additional security reinforcement demands, they only indicate the recuperative ideal security situation in the province despite the challenges and Diyala’s geographical location, as it fills a large part of security gaps to end ISIS’s presence and paralyze its capabilities”. Al-Ezzi added, “Today we are fighting a fierce war against terrorism that relies mainly on accurate information and the speed of responding to it at the appropriate time.”

Diyala has been witnessing –since last April- an unprecedented escalation of terrorist attacks that caused dozens of casualties among civilians and security services, where experts attribute the causes of this default to weak security plans, the overlapping of the security authorities, the incorrect distribution and deployment of the security units besides corruption.

In a parallel context, Diyala governorate’s deputy, Nahida Al-Daini stated to shafaq News Agency, “Diyala is losing a lot of security leaders due to the influence of its powerful parties which controls the course of the situation and remove any leader who opposes their interests by fueling the demonstrations and the street against those leaders.

This increased the assassinations and the security weakness in several areas in the province. The same influential parties prevent the security services from carrying out arrest warrants or pursuit of the illegal smuggling operations alongside other practices, which threatens the peaceful coexistence in the province, Al-Daini added.

Al-Daini called the security ministries “to coordinate with the security ministers with Diyala’s deputies and their officials to appoint leaders who are familiar with the security and social status of the province, as appointing leaders from outside the province which proved to be useless in the light of the current sensitive security situation of Diyala.”