Iraqi Army Waits For Green Light For Diyala Operation

This could be one of the last major operations of the Iraqi War when Iraqi Army forces are given the go ahead to clear Diyala Province. Here are some of the details from Aswat Aliraq:

Iraqi security forces are awaiting the zero hour to be set by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to commence operations to track down gunmen in the restive province of Diala, an Interior Ministry official said on Sunday.
"The file regarding the security operations in Diala is now on the prime minister's table for a decision to give the go-ahead for well-prepared Iraqi security forces to do their job," Maj. General Abdelkareem Khalaf, the interior ministry's operations chief, said in a press conference he held in Baghdad on Sunday.

Not only are the forces of al Qaeda in Iraq a target in Diyala but other Sunni insurgent groups and a conglomeration of violent groups and individuals. Diyala province has been one of the toughest areas to clear - the U.S. has tried a couple of different major operations and has had success but the province has never returned to a restive area.

The local Awakenings in Diyala haven't had the same success here that has been seen in Al Anbar province with many Awakening members being victims of retaliatory attacks.

Interior Ministry says awaiting PM's go-ahead for Diala operations

BAGHDAD, July 13 (VOI) – Iraqi security forces are awaiting the zero hour to be set by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to commence operations to track down gunmen in the restive province of Diala, an Interior Ministry official said on Sunday.
"The file regarding the security operations in Diala is now on the prime minister's table for a decision to give the go-ahead for well-prepared Iraqi security forces to do their job," Maj. General Abdelkareem Khalaf, the interior ministry's operations chief, said in a press conference he held in Baghdad on Sunday.
Khalaf pointed out that Diala is one of four provinces where crime and violence rates remain high, adding that the three other provinces are Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk.
"Diala is witnessing an increase in organized and non-organized crime rates on a daily basis, whether on the level of al-Qaeda network or other criminal rings," he said.
Replying to a question by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) on the date planned to launch this security operation in Diala, Khalaf said it would be during the next few days.
More than a government official had said that the Diala operation became imminent after unbridled violence grew there.
Last June, Maliki, during a meeting with notables in the province of Missan, said the next stop would be in Diala, in reference to launching wide-scale military operations in the manner of Bashaer al-Salam (Promise of Peace) in Missan, Umm al-Rabiain (Mother of Two Springs) in Mosul and Saulat al-Forsan (Knights' Assault) in Basra.
A senior security official in Diala who asked not to be named had told VOI on Friday that military reinforcements arrived in Diala from the Iraqi capital Baghdad in preparations for launching a military operation in Diala to manhunt gunmen and impose order and law all over the province.
Diala province extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi).