DoD to Deploy 'Arctic Wolves' Combat Team in Iraq This Summer - Statement

"The brigade has readied itself for any mission", team commander Col. Matthew Brown said in the release on Friday.

After a winter spent training in the Arctic, the team known as the "Arctic Wolves" will face a likely test its readiness for all missions when facing average daytime temperatures in Iraq that may top 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team will replace the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division in a regular rotation, the release said.

READ MORE: 16 Years Later, Legacy of US War in Iraq is Destruction, Lies, Not ‘Misjudgment’

Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) said in a press release on Monday that US-led forces are conducting airstrikes against the Daesh terror group in Iraq after defeating the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate in Syria.

"As Daesh [Islamic State] has been systematically defeated, many of its fighters have fled out of Syria into Iraq", CJTF-OIR Deputy Commander Chris Ghika said in the release. "They are now seeking to re-establish themselves to conduct a deadly resurgence. Make no mistake, the fight against Daesh and violent extremism is far from over". CJTF-OIR said.

Aerial operations focus on the Islamic State’s capacity to re-emerge, which includes the targeting its financial, explosive-manufacturing, communication, recruiting, planning, training and smuggling activities, the release added.

In December 2017, Iraqi authorities announced a victory over the Daesh after over three years of fighting, but said local security and law enforcement services would continue eliminating the terror group’s sleeper cells.

READ MORE: Iran’s Rouhani Visits Iraq Defying US Campaign of 'Division' — Report

Last month, the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the start of an operation aimed at liberating the village of southeastern Syria's Baghuz, which is located at the border with Iraq and remains, according to the militias, the last settlement held by Daesh in the region.

The US-led coalition of more than 70 members has been conducting military operations against the Daesh in Syria and Iraq since September 2014. The coalition’s activities in Syria are authorized neither by the Syrian government nor by the UN Security Council.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.