Shafaq News/ Iraq's army and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, al-Hashd al-Shaabi) carried out a large-scale campaign to purge the grand desert sprawling over a wide area between three governorates, an official press release said on Sunday.

The statement issued by the PMF command in Nineveh said that a joint force from the Iraqi army's 43rd brigade and the PMF 44th brigade started a campaign in the desert between Nineveh, al-Anbar, and Saladin.

"The operation aims to promote security and control the grand desert and pursue the terrorist gangs' remnants near the Syrian borders," the statement said.