Bags of rice, boxes of biscuits and other food items were handed out as two male members of the Iraqi media took photos. This reporter was told by Mohammedi that she was the only journalist from a Western country at the front in Anbar.
When asked why others were not present, Mohammedi said that Iraqi media had a presence on all the fronts, but that care was being taken with foreign media. “This is a fight against terrorists from around the world,” he said.
Al-Monitor spent several hours at one checkpoint, repeatedly being told to come back a week later when the operation would be over, and almost an entire day at another checkpoint before being allowed to travel with the media chief of the 7th Division to the front, despite having received prior permission from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) to cover the entire area of operations. No cellphone reception is available in the area.
Victory was declared on Nov. 17. Lt. Gen. Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah said in a JOC statement that Iraqi forces had “liberated Rawa entirely and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings.”
Part of the desert near the Syrian border remains outside the Baghdad government's control, but the taking of Rawa marks the de facto end of IS' territorial control in Iraq.
(Picture: Iraqi Army training at Camp Taji)
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