Iraqi security forces after retaking the border town of Rawa, the last town under the control of ISIS in Iraq on November 17, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

ISIS has already been driven from all the towns it once held, but Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he will not proclaim victory until the jihadists have been cleared from the western desert bordering Syria.

The aim of the operation is to clear the desert right up to the Syrian border and hunt down the terrorists who fled from the towns of Al-Qaim and Rawa that have been liberated. The Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary force, which has played a key role in the offensive, said 100 villages and hamlets had already been freed from ISIS fighters.