The sources added that around 400 fighters amassed in the nearby towns of Fallujah and Karma the day before, piling pressure on the capital’s western flank.
Government forces fought back ISIS outside Amiriya Fallujah - which faced a siege by the militants for much of this month and is the last government-controlled town before the key provincial city of Fallujah.
Soldiers destroyed five of the fighters’ vehicles, a security source said.
There were no immediate reports on the number of casualties from the fighting there, but the militant advance appears to have been halted.
Another battle between the two sides raged in the area around Hit town, also in western Anbar province, but the outcome remained unclear.
Hit is a walled market town located some 130 km (80 miles) west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad seized by Islamic State militants at the beginning of October.
Anbar’s largest airbase Ain al-Asad, the Haditha Dam - a critical piece of infrastructure - and surrounding towns are encircled by Islamic State to the west from the Syrian border and to the east from militant-controlled sections of Ramadi.
The province fell into the militants’ hands after years of tension between the Shi’ite Muslim-led government and the Sunni majority population, which seeks greater autonomy.
Retaking the lost towns and encouraging Anbar’s Sunni tribes to take up the fight against Islamic State will be vital to reviving the shattered Iraqi state’s control over its territory. The tribes people did not take part in the fighting near Amiriya Fallujah.
The United States and other Western countries have repeatedly bombed the Sunni jihadist group’s positions in Iraq - including in the Fallujah area on Wednesday - and Gulf monarchies have also taken part in air strikes against it in Syria which began last month.
Declaring a caliphate, or Muslim theocracy, Islamic State took advantage of sectarian warfare and weak state control to grab swathes of Syria and Iraq earlier this year.
Islamic State fighters have also laid siege for a month to Kobane, hundreds of kilometers to the northwest on the Turkish-Syrian frontier, and only intense bombardments by U.S.-led coalition warplanes have halted their advance.
Last Update: Wednesday, 22 October 2014 KSA 15:53 - GMT 12:53
[alarabiya.net]
22/10/14
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Iraqi forces repel IS attacks in Anbar province as Iran backs Baghdad anti-terror efforts...
ReplyDeleteIraqi security forces and allied tribal fighters rebuffed an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in a town near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, but were forced to withdraw from another embattled town after two days of fierce clashes in the country's western province of Anbar, security sources said on Thursday.
In the early hours of the day, IS militants carried out their third attack within the past 48 hours on the besieged town of Ameriyat al-Fallujah, some 40 km west of Baghdad, but security forces and allied local Sunni tribesmen repelled them, a source from Anbar provincial operations command, told Xinhua on the condition of anonymity.
IS militants tried to enter the town from three directions using car bombs and armored vehicles and managed to seize the northern suburb of the town but failed to go further, facing strong resistance from the troops and tribal fighters who were backed by Iraqi government aircraft, the source said.
Thursday's attack followed two failed attempts to seize the town on Wednesday, which left at least 32 militants dead, the source said.
Meanwhile, warplanes belonging to the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft pounded IS militants around Ameriyat al-Fallujah, killing at least 23 militants and destroying seven of their vehicles, the source added.
The strategic town of Ameriyat al-Fallujah is the last major town under government control that is next to Baghdad and also located some 60 km north of the Shiite holy city of Karbala. If the militants seize the town they will be closer to the Iraqi capital and will also be able to move closer to Karbala, which they could target with artillery and mortars.
Also in the province, security forces and allied fighters from the Sunni tribe of Albu Nimer withdrew in the morning from their last positions in the town of Heet, some 160 km west of the Baghdad, because they lacked reinforcement troops and were facing an ammunition shortage, a provincial security source anonymously told Xinhua.
Previously on Wednesday, the troops and the allied tribesmen repelled a major attack by the IS militants in the partially seized town of Heet................http://english.cntv.cn/2014/10/24/ARTI1414107923574185.shtml
24/10/14
US defense chief says anti-ISIL strategy working ....
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. overall strategy against the ISIL terror group is making progress despite some setbacks in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Thursday.
"We believe that our strategy is working," Hagel said at a press conference. "There will be mixed and various outcomes daily. But this is not a daily measurement; this is an overall, strategic, longer term measurement of how well they’re doing."
Although ISIL has managed to control Mount Sinjar and large swaths of territory in Iraq's Anbar province is under the control of the militant group, Hagel again ruled out the use of U.S. ground forces but left the door open for employing special forces in the fight.
"I’ve not had any discussions with any of the commanders based on that,” Hagel said referring to the use of special forces. “They feel confident that what we’re doing is working."
In calls with his Iraqi counterpart, defense minister Khaled al-Obeidi, Hagel said he was assured of al-Obedi's commitment to fight ISIL as the two talked about ways to train, equip and prepare Iraqi security forces for upcoming offensives against the terror group.
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/409429--us-defense-chief-says-anti-isil-strategy-working
24/10/14
Iraqi army starts to ‘act like one’: U.S. ...
ReplyDeleteIraq’s fractured army began to reform and stage local attacks on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants, but was still shy of hurling a major offensive, senior U.S. military officials said on Thursday.
The officials, who were not authorized to be quoted by name, added that it would take the army many months to stage and launch a major attack against the militant group.
“We've seen them start to act like an army,” one official said.
The officials were speaking at the U.S. Central Command headquarters, during a briefing on the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria.
The Iraqi army, trained by the U.S. prior to its pullout from Iraq in 2011, underwent sectarian division and broken leadership among other issues.................http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/10/24/Iraq-s-army-starts-to-act-like-one-U-S-.html
24/10/14
Iraqi forces seize four villages after victory near Baghdad ...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Iraqi government forces retook four villages on Sunday near a mountain ridge overlooking Islamic State supply lines, security officials said, in a campaign which has struggled to make advances against the Sunni Islamist insurgents.
Iraqi security forces backed by Shi'ite militias gained some momentum on Saturday in their bid to loosen the grip of Islamic State, which controls large swathes of territory in the north and west of the country.
After months of fighting they drove Islamic State militants out of Jurf al-Sakhar, just south of Baghdad, while Kurdish fighters regained control over the town of Zumar in the north.............http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/26/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-idUSKCN0IE0I820141026?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
26/10/14