Iraqi soldiers battling the Islamic State group recaptured the heart
and outlying districts of the town of Beiji, home to the country's
largest oil refinery, state television and a provincial governor said
Tuesday.
Retaking Beiji, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad,
could allow Iraqi forces a base to attack neighboring Tikrit, taken by
the extremists in their lightning advance this summer. But troops backed
by Shiite militias faced pockets of stiff resistance around Beiji,
hindering their advance.
State television quoted the top army commander in Beiji, Gen.
Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, as saying troops recaptured the city's local
government and police headquarters at the center of the town. It aired
what appeared to be archival footage of the town showing Iraqi army
troops firing their weapons from behind sand barriers.
Al-Saadi later spoke to state television by telephone but the
line appeared to be cut off after he said his forces were meeting stiff
resistance.
Raed Ibrahim, the governor of Salahuddin province, where Beiji
and Tikrit are located, said the military had secured about 75 percent
of the town as of Tuesday, retaking the center of the town and outlying
districts. He said government forces continued to meet fierce resistance
from the militants, whom he said were using suicide bombers to stall
the military's advance.
Ibrahim also told The Associated Press that many militants booby-trapped buildings in Beiji, posing an added threat.
A senior military official earlier told the AP that troops had
recaptured of about 75 percent of Beiji. He spoke on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
Government officials in Baghdad offered no immediate comment on
the news. Al-Saadi said Saturday that his forces had recaptured most of
the city and that it would soon be entirely rid of Islamic State group
fighters.
There was no word on the fate of the refinery, which lies on the
outskirts of the town and has been besieged by Islamic State fighters
since June. The small army unit inside the refinery, resupplied and
reinforced by air for months, successfully resisted wave after wave of
extremist assaults.
Iraq's army and security forces partially have regrouped after
melting away in the face of the summer's Islamic State offensive. In
recent weeks, they recaptured a string of small towns and villages, but
taking Beiji would be strategically significant in what is shaping up to
be a drawn-out campaign against the extremists.
Recapturing Beiji also would be a major boost for Iraq's
Shiite-led government and could pave the way for a fresh offensive to
drive Islamic State militants from the nearby city of Tikrit, Saddam
Hussein's hometown and the capital of Salahuddin province.
The Beiji campaign has been carried out by a contingent of troops
and security forces drawn from a nearby military base and airlifted
from government-controlled areas elsewhere.
Airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition have aided Iraqi forces,
militias and Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling Islamic State
militants. Hundreds of U.S. advisers and trainers also have been working
with the Iraqis.
U.S. Central Command said Monday that coalition aircraft
conducted seven airstrikes near Beiji since Friday, destroying three
small militant units, a sniper position and two militant vehicles,
including one used for construction.
Meanwhile in Syria, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura reiterated his
call for a truce in the northern city of Aleppo where rebels still hold
large areas, although they are under increasing attack from advancing
government forces. De Mistura, who met Syrian President Bashar Assad on
Monday, said an Aleppo truce could be a step toward a wider resolution
of the country's civil war.
Assad has said the suggestion was "worth studying."
And in Qatar, ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani warned
U.S.-led airstrikes won't be enough to defeat "terrorism and extremism"
in Iraq and Syria. Speaking to the Gulf nation's legislative advisory
council, he said the policies of Assad's government and "some militias
in Iraq" — a reference to Iranian-backed Shiite militias — are the
most important factors contributing to extremism in the two countries.
Qatar plays a supporting role in the U.S.-led military coalition
conducting airstrikes by allowing coalition forces to use its vast
al-Udeid air base. The country also has provided substantial arms and
other aid to Syrian rebels, but has come under fire from critics for its
support of Islamist groups. Qatar denies supporting militants and says
it has never provided backing for Islamic State fighters.
--
source; theguardian