Iraq: ISIS captures Iraq-Syria border while Iraqi forces launch counterattack, retaken town of Husaybah
Islamic State gained full control of a border crossing between Iraq and Syria Sunday, the day after an alliance of Iraqi forces managed to take back from the terror group a town east of Ramadi and advanced to liberate another neighboring town.
Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has now full control over the Al-Walid border, which includes the two main roads between Syria and Iraq’s province of Anbar, according to Agence France Presse.
ISIS forced the Iraqi coalition to pull back from the border after an offensive early Sunday, a week after the Sunni terror group seized the Iraqi city of Ramadi and days after it captured the historic Syrian city of Palmyra. ISIS’ attacks on Ramadi over the past few weeks have left thousands of residents displaced.
“There was no military support for the security forces and there weren’t enough of them to protect the crossing,” Suad Jassem, the head of Anbar’s border commission, was quoted as saying. “Daesh [ISIS] now controls both sides of both crossings.”
Meanwhile, Iraqi forces were able to retake Husaybah, a town 4.5 miles east of Ramadi in an operation early Saturday.