On 21 November, Iraqi authorities announced the success of an air operation against ISIS, which destroyed four of the group’s hideouts in the northern province of Kirkuk.

The operation was a response to an attack by the extremist group, which killed four service members.

Following the attack, the Kirkuk operations commander, General Ali al-Freiji, issued an arrest warrant for an army intelligence officer in the province.

Iraq recently launched the eighth phase of an operation targeting ISIS remnants in the country’s northern regions.

The operation, dubbed “Solid Will,” is an extension of an expansive effort by the Iraqi army, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and Kurdish Peshmerga forces seeking to eliminate the presence of ISIS in the country.

Monday’s anti-ISIS operation coincided with an attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the headquarters of Kurdish separatist groups in northern Iraq with missiles and kamikaze drones.

The attacks targeted the bases of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Komala Party, leaving at least one dead and several injured.

In recent years, ISIS has become significantly less active in Syria and Iraq due to military efforts from the Iraqi and Syrian governments in collaboration with the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Russian forces. However, remnants of the extremist group continue to exist in the region.

Most remnants of ISIS reside in Syria, where in October, Russia repeatedly launched bombing campaigns against militant groups and ISIS.

By the end of 2017, ISIS had lost 95 percent of its territory in Iraq. In response, the militant group shifted its focus toward Syria, where the national government and US-backed Syrian Kurdish groups defeated it.

The remaining ISIS pockets are still hiding in some areas across Syria’s Deraa region after having fled the towns of the Yarmouk Basin when it was stormed by the army and local factions in 2018.