Shafaq News / Member of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, Diyala Abdel-Khaleq Medhat Al-Azzawi, undermined, on Tuesday, the threat of ISIS north of Jalawla, calling on the citizens to overcome the "barrier of fear".

 Al-Azzawi told Shafaq News agency, “ISIS threat in northern Jalwla is exaggerated. There are no significant risks that prevent farmers from accessing their farms and orchards and practicing normal life and agriculture.”

Al-Azzawi emphasized, " Al-Hash Al-Shaabi forces and the Iraqi army are conducting daily cleansing, inspection and tracking campaigns in all orchards and agricultural villages", ruling out, "the need for additional forces or military reinforcements."

On contrary, Abu Muhammad al-Azzawi, 62, one of the "Sheikh Baba area" farmers, affirmed that, “the threat of ISIS still exists and paralyzes agricultural life in 10 to 12 villages north of Jalawla,” noting that ISIS militants are better equipped than the farmers of the area.

Al-Azzawi said to Shafaq News agency reinforcing the security forces and arming the tribes can clear the area from ISIS threats referring to, "The continuous incidents in northern Jalawla, including attacks by bombs and rifles."

According to the recent security understandings between the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Peshmerga, forces of the Peshmerga were deployed in the border strip between North Jalawla and Kalar, to patch the fragile security gaps and cut off the routes of infiltration of ISIS between Diyala and Kurdistan.

The withdrawal of Peshmerga from Diyala in 2017 after the independence referendum created vast security voids exploited by ISIS militants fleeing from the western provinces and Diyala regions to launch terrorist attacks on civilians and security forces.

It is noteworthy that "northern Jalawla" areas witnessed a security unrest for more than two years after the infiltration of ISIS militants fleeing from the liberated governorates into orchards and agricultural sites.

Jalawla district is located 70 km northeast of Baquba and is inhabited by a mixture of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. The district fell to ISIS gangs in August 2014 before being recovered in November of the same year.