BAGHDAD, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Iraq launched on Tuesday an operation to hunt down the militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group near the Iraqi-Syrian border in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.
Iraqi security forces, backed by aircraft, pushed into the desert area in three routes to clear the border areas of the IS militants, who frequently carry out attacks on the Iraqi security forces, Colonel Salih Ibrahim from Anbar's police told Xinhua.
The IS militants are still active in the vast Anbar desert that stretches to the borders with neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They are infiltrating Iraq from neighboring Syria across the nearly 600-km border with Iraq, in an attempt to regroup again.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces defeated the IS militants in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted into urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem
