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Operation Ajelê Difirin was a counter-terrorism operation conducted by the Peshmerga of Iraqi Kurdistan against the Islamic State in Kirkuk Province, Iraq on 17 July 2021 amid the Iraqi insurgency. The Peshmerga targeted a neighborhood which ISIL had occupied during its insurgency in northern Iraq; the Palestinian jihadist Nafiz Anwar Arafat set up his headquarters at a bombed-out mosque, and he also scattered weapons caches around the neighborhood. The Kurdish special forces, aided by American special forces, moved through the neighborhood to take over ISIL strongpoints and destroy their weapons caches, and they faced fierce resistance in the open-air markets, where intense crossfires claimed several soldiers on both sides. In ISIL's mosque headquarters, the insurgents put up stiff resistance, both from the balconies and from the basement, where they stored their ammunition. Kurdish soldiers destroyed the cache in a controlled explosion, but the Kurds' attempts to secure their next target, another ISIL-controlled building, were unsuccessful, as, while the Kurds succeeded in capturing the building, they lost the building to an ISIL counterattack, forcing their team to evacuate. Later that day, a new team was sent in, retaking the lost parts of the neighborhood from ISIL, and destroying newly-established weapons caches. This time, the main battle occurred at the second open-air market, and the Kurds overcame heavy ISIL resistance. The Kurdish attack was once again held back beyond the mosque, but, this time, the remaining ISIL fighters decided to retreat rather than fight to the death.

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