The Iraqi National Intelligence Agency announced that it successfully arrested two of the most prominent leaders of the terrorist organization ISIS, in a top-tier operation conducted outside Iraqi soil, the agency announced on Saturday afternoon.

Iraqi intelligence forces expatriated the terrorists to Iraq after launching an operation to track and arrest the wanted individuals, which lasted for several years. 

The terrorists were identified as Issam Ali Saidan, also known as "Abu Zeid", and Bashir Ali Saidan, also known as "Abu Ahmad Itisalat." The Agency confirmed in a statement that the arrested terrorists were responsible for managing communication activities for ISIS in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

In detail, "Abu Zaid" managed ISIS' media network while "Abu Ahmad Istisalat" was tasked with encrypting and managing communications between the organization's leaders. It is worth noting that the Arabic word "Itisalat" directly translates to "communications".

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
(وَمَا جَعَلَهُ اللَّـهُ إِلَّا بُشْرَىٰ لَكُمْ وَلِتَطْمَئِنَّ قُلُوبُكُم بِهِ وَمَا النَّصْرُ إِلَّا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّـهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ).
صدق الله العلي العظيم

تستمر انتصارات أبطال العراق الغيارى على بقايا داعش الارهابي الذين انتهكوا الحرمات… pic.twitter.com/3WTtEDd4X1

— جهاز المخابرات الوطني العراقي (@INIS_IQ) February 24, 2024

In a related context, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, during a visit to the Netherlands on February 16, affirmed that his country has requested that the US-led international coalition end its mission in Iraq after 10 years, emphasizing the efficiency and readiness of the Iraqi security forces. Al-Sudani said Baghdad no longer needs the presence of non-Iraqi state actors in the country to aid in the fight against ISIS, which was the main motive behind the establishment of the coalition, adding that his government trusts the capabilities of the Iraqi Armed Forces.

The spokesperson for the Iraqi Army, Yahya Rasool, had earlier echoed the Prime Minister's reasoning, saying that the international coalition had become a "destabilizing" force in Iraq, threatening to drag the country "into the circle of ongoing conflict."

Rasoul's remarks came one day after the US launched an aggression on Iraq's capital, in which it assassinated a top leader in the Iraqi Resistance and a member of the government's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Baqer al-Saedi on February 7.

It is worth noting that on February 3, ISIS attempted to launch an attack on the PMF's positions in al-Anbar Governorate, in western Iraq, which came in parallel to a wide-scale US-launched aggression on Iraq. Units of the Iraqi Army and the PMF pushed back against the terrorist organization and brought the attacks to an end on the same day.

Read more: Foreign troops not needed to combat ISIS, says Iraq prime minister