Iraq Control of Terrain Map: April 21, 2016
Iraqi Kurdish Map Legend
KDP Peshmerga Control Zone
Dahuk
Rabia
Populated areas under KDP
Peshmerga control
Mosul Dam
Sinjar
Mosul
Tal Afar
Qayarrah
Sharqat
Arbil
PUK Peshmerga Control Zone
Populated areas under PUK
Peshmerga control
Qandil
Gwer
Makhmur
Hawija
Iraqi Kurdistan regions under
Peshmerga control
Populated areas under PKK/YPG control
Kirkuk Suleimaniyah
Populated areas under KDP
Peshmerga/PKK/YPG control
Baiji
Populated areas under ISF control
with KDP Peshmerga and Sunni
tribal fighters
Tuz Khurmato
Camp Speicher
Tikrit
PUK Peshmerga-held location
Khanaqin
Qaim
Haditha
Baghdadi
Asad Base
Waleed
Rutba
Hit
KDP Peshmerga-held location
Samarra
Joint ISF-KDP Peshmerga-held location
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
Headquarters Site
Mixed PUK Peshmerga-Militia
Controlled Location
Muqdadiyah
Balad Base
Camp Taji
Baqubah
Balad Ruz
Ramadi
Taqadum Base Fallujah
Trebil
Mixed KDP Peshmerga/ PKK/YPGheld location
Baghdad
Jurf
al-Sakhr
Karbala
Nukhaib
al-Kut
al-Hillah
al-Diwaniyah
al-Najaf
al-Amarah
al-Samawah
al-Nasriyah
Basra
Iraq Map Legend
ISF Control Zone
ISF and heavy presence of Iraqi Shi’a militias
Joint ISF - Sunni Tribal Fighters Control Zone
Populated areas under ISF control
ISIS Control Zone
ISF-held location
ISIS-held location
ISF-held military base
100km
Content: Emily Anagnostos and ISW Iraq Team
Graphics: Emily Anagnostos
2016 by the Institute for the Study of War
©
The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and tribal fighters with Coalition air support recaptured Hit District on April 14 as part of an ongoing
operation to remove ISIS from the Euphrates River Valley. Security forces began operations to connect Ramadi to Hit District on
March 12 and quickly recaptured Kubaisah, west of Hit, on March 25. From there, the ISF attacked Hit from the north and west,
breaching the center of Hit on April 7 and securing the district on April 14. The ISF will now work to connect Hit with al-Baghdadi
Sub-District, north of Hit, along the Euphrates River by securing control over the remainder of the Haditha-Baghdad highway. Doing
so will grant the ISF control over the Euphrates River Valley from Haditha to Ramadi. ISW is thus changing the Hit District and the
terrain between Hit and Ramadi from ISIS control to ISF control.
The Joint Operations Command, largely driven by Iranian proxy militias, launched a three-day offensive on March 1 to clear the
Samarra desert from as far south as Lake Thar Thar and north towards Tikrit. The offensive concluded on March 3. Despite the
difficulty of controlling desert terrain, the area has not witnessed ISIS attacks since the offensive. As such, ISW is changing key
roadways from contested to ISF- and militia-controlled terrain, though ISW cannot assess with confidence if villages in the Jazeera
Desert west of Samarra are under ISF and militia control. These areas thus remain contested.
Popular Mobilization forces continue to clash with ISIS in the Makhoul Mountains, north of Baiji. Popular Mobilization efforts have
effectively cost ISIS its unilateral control in the area, though Iraqi Shi’a militias have not succeeded in securing uncontested control
over any territory north of Baiji. Therefore, ISW is changing the area from ISIS-held to contested terrain.