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BAGHDAD -Iraqs elite Counter-Terrorism Service said on Monday it had arrested ISISs administrative chief after he arrived at Baghdad airport.

The man, known as Abu Naba, was detained in October as he was getting into a taxi, just after landing in Baghdad, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Noaman said.

Describing him as a major target, Noaman said Abu Naba had been steering financial support to ISIS, organising meetings and relaying messages between jihadist members.

He began his jihadist path in 2003 with Al-Qaeda, before joining various groups that eventually led to ISIS, he said.

But Noaman declined to reveal Abu Nabas real name, where he had been flying in from and how he managed to cross through airport security before he was apprehended.

In 2014, the terrorist group seized a third of Iraqi territory, which local troops backed by the US-led coalition only recaptured in late 2017.

More than a year later, in 2019, ISIS lost its last foothold in neighbouring Syria.

Jihadist sleeper cells have continued to wage hit-and-run attacks, including one north of Baghdad late Saturday that killed six security forces and four civilians.

They have also continued to transfer funds and personnel across Iraqi territory, Iraqi and Western officials say.

Abu Naba had been in contact with remaining members of ISIS in Iraq, and we were monitoring their conversations for a long time, said Noaman.

Since his arrest, Abu Naba has remained in Iraqi custody and is being interrogated.

Noaman said he would be tried under Iraqs counter-terror law, which carries the death penalty for membership in a terrorist organisation.

Iraq ranks fifth among countries that carry out death sentences, according to Amnesty International, which documented 100 executions in the country in 2019.

Since declaring ISIS defeated in 2017, Iraq has sentenced to death hundreds of Iraqi defendants for membership in the jihadist faction but only a small proportion have been carried out.

On November 16, 21 men convicted of terrorism charges were hanged at the notorious Nasiriyah prison in southern Iraq, which the United Nations warned was deeply troubling.

Resurgence

Saturdays lethal attack by ISIS has sparked acute criticism of the authorities.

Late Saturday, a roadside bomb hit a civilian car on an open road near Mt. Makhoul, about 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, police and a local official said.

When security forces arrived at the scene, jihadists opened fire on them, police said.

The attack killed at least six Iraqi security personnel and four civilians.

There was no claim by ISIS, but both the local mayor and police blamed the group, which Iraqs government said in late 2017 it had defeated.

That victory came after three years of brutal fighting to wrench back the one-third of Iraqi territory that had been captured by ISIS.

Although the jihadists no longer hold territory, sleeper cells wage hit-and-run attacks on state infrastructure, particularly in desert areas north of the capital.

Two weeks ago, 11 people were killed in an ISIS attack on a lookout post at Al-Radwaniyah on Baghdads outskirts, areas which are predominantly Sunni Muslim.

According to a study published this month by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in the Hague, the jihadist group has claimed more attacks in Iraq than in any other country where it is active over the period December 2018 to May this year.

The study said that ISIS activity in Iraq accelerated precipitously from February 2020 onwards, reaching levels that are worryingly close to those preceding its sweep across a third of Iraq in 2014.

ISIS in Iraq generally appears to be moving from a (re) building phase into one that is characterised by brazen guerrilla-style attacks, the study noted.

Losing credibility

The attacks have coincided with a new campaign by Iraqs security forces to arrest jihadists hiding out in rugged terrain in the countrys north and west.

In fact, just a day before the attack, the head of Iraqs federal police Jaafar al-Batat told state media that the area around Mt. Makhoul had been cleared.

The incidents carried out by ISIS in some remote areas are isolated cases and now under control, he said.

As ISIS struck, the contradiction between official assurances and reality on the ground outraged many Iraqis, especially in the province of Salahuddin.

Iraqi security forces just assured us this area had been cleaned, wrote Mashaan al-Jaboury, a Sunni lawmaker representing Salahaddin, on Twitter after the violence late Saturday.

For Jamal al-Dhari, another Sunni figure writing on Twitter, the latest ambush sheds light on the repeated failures in the fight against terrorism.

The government of (Prime Minister) Mustafa al-Kadhimi must seriously put in place a national strategy and stop being satisfied with investigative committees,' said Dhari.

Iraqis regularly mock their government for establishing investigative bodies that do not produce results.

The tensions come as the US-led coalition, which helped Iraq fight ISIS starting in 2014, is drawing down its troops.

This year, the US has already shrunk its contribution to the coalition from 5,200 to some 3,000 troops, as other countries have reduced their numbers as well.

The US announced last week it would withdraw another 500 troops by mid-January, which Iraqi officials say is the fourth and final phase of the coalitions draw-down.

Violent pressure

The top US commander for the Middle East, General Kenneth McKenzie, said the progress made by Iraqi security forces in recent years had allowed the US to draw down.

Troops remaining in Iraq would focus on training local forces, carrying out air strikes in support of their operations and running drone surveillance over the country.

The US military presence remains a source of controversy.

Iraqs parliament voted in January to seek the departure of all foreign troops, following a US drone strike on Baghdad that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and a leading Iraqi paramilitary commander.

Kadhimi, whose government is seen as US-leaning, has slow-walked the implementation.

Pro-Iran factions have organised a series of rallies in recent months and are thought to have launched several missile strikes on Baghdads Green Zone to pressure Kadhimi to implement the decision.

If you dont leave on your own, our rockets will force you out! one sign at a recent protest read.

It was in reference to dozens of rocket attacks on Western diplomatic and military installations since October 2019.

The US has threatened to close its embassy in Baghdad unless rocket attacks stop.

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Iraq arrests ISIS figure but its credibility is sorely tested | | AW - The Arab Weekly