Iraqi forces announced a new drive against holdout "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) fighters in the western desert on Friday (December 8th) as Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi looks to proclaim victory over the extremists, AFP reported.

Al-Abbadi has said he will not declare the extremists have been defeated until they have been cleared from the dry valleys and other natural hideouts that have provided them with a desert refuge since they lost their last urban centres last month.

Iraqi troops "launched a major drive to clear areas of the al-Jazeera region between Ninawa and Anbar (provinces) in the second phase of operations," the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

In a first phase of operations launched on November 23rd, government forces moving south from Ninawa and north from Anbar already linked up, clearing large parts of the desert between the Tigris and Euphrates valleys.

Command spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasul said on November 27th that they had already cleared 50% of the total area of the desert of around 29,000 square kilometres.

During a visit to the Middle East on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he expected Iraq to declare victory over ISIS by the end of this month.