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Islamic State seizes western Iraqi town, advances on military base
5/22/15
Baghdad (dpa) - Islamic State militants seized a town in western Iraq's Anbar province and were advancing towards a major military base in the region, a tribal leader said Friday.
Mohamed al-Fahdawi said the jihadists captured the town of Eastern Husseiba, located midway between the Habaniya military base and Ramadi, the capital of Anbar that fell to Islamic State at the weekend.
"Daesh succeeded in taking control of Eastern Husseiba following fierce clashes with security forces and allied tribal fighters," he told dpa, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. He did not give casualty figures.
The militants entered some state buildings in the town where they removed the Iraqi flag and replaced it with the Islamic State banner, according to al-Fahdawi.
He said that the extremists were pushing to control the Habbaniya base, which is the Iraqi government's biggest military facility in Anbar.
On Sunday, the jihadists took full control of Ramadi, in what has been the biggest setback for government troops and a US-led coalition in nearly a year.
Anbar, Iraq's largest province, stretches from the capital Baghdad to the Syrian and Jordanian borders. Islamic State also controls other areas in the Sunni heartland in western and northern Iraq.
The radical Sunni group has made territorial gains over the past days in neighbouring Syria.
On Thursday, Islamic State fighters took control of the Syrian side of al-Tanef, the last Syrian-government controlled crossing with Iraq.
The al-Tanef crossing is in the central province of Homs, which is also home to the ancient city of Palmyra that Islamic State captured on Wednesday.
These latest advances in Syria and Iraq show that the al-Qaeda splinter group remains formidable in the region, months after the United States started aerial campaigns in the two countries.
In Syria, Islamist rebels captured a government hospital complex in the north-western province of Idlib marking a fresh setback for the troops of President Bashar al-Assad, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the National Hospital in Idlib's opposition-controlled town of Jisr al-Shughur fell to Jish al-Fatah, a coalition of jihadists led by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.
At least 200 regime troops and civilian officials are believed to have been holed up in the complex since rebels seized Jisr al-Shughur in late April and laid siege to the hospital, according to activists.
The Britain-based Observatory said dozens of government soldiers fled the hospital before the rebels took over.
The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdel-Rahman, said some of the escapees arrived at a government checkpoint located some 700 metres away from the hospital, while the fate of the others was still unknown.
Syrian state TV reported that government troops broke the rebels' siege of the hospital and freed those trapped inside.
If the rebels take full control of Idlib, then the road would be open for them to the neighbouring coastal province of Latakia, a stronghold of al-Assad.
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5/22/15
Baghdad (dpa) - Islamic State militants seized a town in western Iraq's Anbar province and were advancing towards a major military base in the region, a tribal leader said Friday.
Mohamed al-Fahdawi said the jihadists captured the town of Eastern Husseiba, located midway between the Habaniya military base and Ramadi, the capital of Anbar that fell to Islamic State at the weekend.
"Daesh succeeded in taking control of Eastern Husseiba following fierce clashes with security forces and allied tribal fighters," he told dpa, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. He did not give casualty figures.
The militants entered some state buildings in the town where they removed the Iraqi flag and replaced it with the Islamic State banner, according to al-Fahdawi.
He said that the extremists were pushing to control the Habbaniya base, which is the Iraqi government's biggest military facility in Anbar.
On Sunday, the jihadists took full control of Ramadi, in what has been the biggest setback for government troops and a US-led coalition in nearly a year.
Anbar, Iraq's largest province, stretches from the capital Baghdad to the Syrian and Jordanian borders. Islamic State also controls other areas in the Sunni heartland in western and northern Iraq.
The radical Sunni group has made territorial gains over the past days in neighbouring Syria.
On Thursday, Islamic State fighters took control of the Syrian side of al-Tanef, the last Syrian-government controlled crossing with Iraq.
The al-Tanef crossing is in the central province of Homs, which is also home to the ancient city of Palmyra that Islamic State captured on Wednesday.
These latest advances in Syria and Iraq show that the al-Qaeda splinter group remains formidable in the region, months after the United States started aerial campaigns in the two countries.
In Syria, Islamist rebels captured a government hospital complex in the north-western province of Idlib marking a fresh setback for the troops of President Bashar al-Assad, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the National Hospital in Idlib's opposition-controlled town of Jisr al-Shughur fell to Jish al-Fatah, a coalition of jihadists led by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.
At least 200 regime troops and civilian officials are believed to have been holed up in the complex since rebels seized Jisr al-Shughur in late April and laid siege to the hospital, according to activists.
The Britain-based Observatory said dozens of government soldiers fled the hospital before the rebels took over.
The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdel-Rahman, said some of the escapees arrived at a government checkpoint located some 700 metres away from the hospital, while the fate of the others was still unknown.
Syrian state TV reported that government troops broke the rebels' siege of the hospital and freed those trapped inside.
If the rebels take full control of Idlib, then the road would be open for them to the neighbouring coastal province of Latakia, a stronghold of al-Assad.
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