On January 29, the Iraqi Security Media Cell announced that the terrorist cell responsible for the January 21 Diyala attack, which claimed the lives of 11 Iraqi service members, had been eliminated.
The attack, that was claimed by ISIS, targeted a position of the Iraqi military’s 1st Division to the west of the district of Hawi al-‘Azim. The terrorists stormed the position taking advantage of a harsh snow storm that was affecting all of Diyala.
“The heroes in the National Security Service were able, with continuous efforts, to determine the exact location of the terrorist cell, which carried out the criminal act in Hawi al-‘Azim, within the Diyala Operations Command … The Joint Targeting Cell in the Joint Operations Command and the Air Force Command began planning and tracked [the terrorists] for several hours, [then] they punished them with three pinpoint airstrikes which were carried out by Iraqi F-16 aircraft,”
the Security Media Cell said in a statement.
The slain Lebanese terrorists were identified as Omar Schidam, Youssef Schidam, Bakr Saif, Omar Saif, Anas al-Jazzar, Mahmoud Al-Sayed. All six came to Iraq from Lebanon’s North and Akar governorates.
Last year, Lebanon’s al-Modon revealed in a report that more than 100 from northern Lebanon traveled to Iraq through Syria to join the ranks of ISIS. Back then, Lebanon’s Minister of Interior Bassam al-Mawlawi confirmed much of the information revealed by al-Modo. Despite this, Lebanese authorities didn’t take any real measures to neutralize ISIS recruitment networks in the country.
The information revealed as a result of the recent terrorist attack in Iraq’s Diyala indicates that ISIS is still operating in the Middle East as a unified organization. The terrorist group’s cells in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon continue to coordinate their operations closely.
Source: South Front