International Coalition and Iraq step up pressure on ISIS

The International Coalition Against ISIS confirmed the killing of Abu Hassan al-Gharibawi and three others in what it described as a "dynamic air strike" west of Baghdad, on Tuesday, according to a report by the Voice of America.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi said, "The terrorist Abu Hassan al-Gharibawi, the so-called leader of southern Iraq in the organization, and the terrorist Ghanem Sabah, who is responsible for transporting suicide bombers and other terrorist elements, has been eliminated."

The announcement of the killing of al-Gharibawi and Sabah came a few days after the announcement of the killing of the "Wali of Iraq" in ISIS, known as Abu Yasser al-Issawi, and other leaders of ISIS.

These operations come with mounting pressure on the Iraqi government to respond to the double suicide bombing last month in the popular market in Baghdad, which killed 32 people and injured more than 100 others.

In this context, coalition officials told Voice of America that the killing of the Iraqi ISIS leader Al-Issawi was "another big blow" to ISIS, but they warned that the threat has not yet gone, as ISIS appears intent on reviving the "caliphate" it declared.

"ISIS is defeated regionally, but it remains a challenge," Colonel Wayne Maruto, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said in an email, referring to the need to "maintain constant pressure" on the terrorist group.

US officials have also expressed concern about ISIS resilience, saying that the Baghdad Market operation last month - the first of its kind since 2018 - confirms ISIS's strength.

An American official told the agency: "The structure and cohesion of ISIS has allowed it to maintain its influence and expand in some areas despite the continuing pressure to combat terrorism."

The official also warned that in some parts of Iraq and Syria, ISIS has succeeded in "shaping its environment so that conditions are ripe to start working more openly."

Fears are most acute in northern and central Iraq, where officials say ISIS is carrying out a range of assassinations and attacks using improvised explosive devices.

According to the estimates of United Nations counterterrorism officials, the number of ISIS mercenaries is about 10 thousand terrorists, while American officials estimate the number between 14 and 16 thousand in Syria and Iraq.

J.O