Iraqi Forces Retake Road to Isolated Anbar

Local Editor

Iraqi forces advancing from two opposite directions in Anbar have joined up, reducing the isolation of the city of Haditha, military sources said Monday.

A statement from Iraq's joint operations command coordinating the fight against Daesh [Arabic Acronym for "ISIS"/ "ISIL" terrorist group] said forces retook several villages from the extremists along the Euphrates River.

The Iraqi army's 7th division had been moving down the river from al-Baghdadi and eventually joined up with forces from the counter-terrorism service moving up from the town of Hit.

"The road is therefore open between Hitand Haditha, via Al-Baghdadi, after an 18-month siege by the terrorists of Daesh," the statement said.

In this context, Major General Ali Ibrahim Daboun, the army commander responsible for the area said: "The siege of Haditha and al-Baghdadi was broken after liberating the strategic highway between Baghdadi and Hit."

Haditha, 210 km northwest of the capital Baghdad, is the third city in the vast province of Anbar and lies near the country's second largest dam.

For months, the city's main lifeline was the nearby military base of al-Asad, which was only accessible by air.

"The engineering corps of the army continues to remove explosive devices to reopen the road for goods, oil products and food," Daboun said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team