 | Wars in the World |
Daily News on Wars in the World and on New States
| FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK X FLIPBOARD TELEGRAM |
A top U.S. commander says Iraqi forces have launched an attack to recapture the western town of Baghdadi from Islamic State (IS) militants.
Lieutenant General James Terry, the senior U.S. commander of the U.S.-led coalition effort in Iraq and Syria, said on February 23 that some 800 Iraqi troops backed by U.S. warplanes were attacking Baghdadi, which was lost to IS militants earlier this month.
Syrian rebels have recaptured key towns in the northern Aleppo countryside after intense battles with government forces, rebels and activists have told Al Jazeera.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra said on Saturday they had recaptured Hardatnin town in the northern Aleppo countryside after five days of fighting with government forces.
The group said government forces had been supported by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters.
Islamic State terrorists burned forty-five people to death in the ISIS-held town of Al-Baghdadi, a local police chief told the BBC.
Last week, the Islamic State captured much of the strategically important town, which is located just five miles from Ain al-Asad air base, where 320 U.S. Marines are training Iraqi forces to combat ISIS. “The Iraqi soldiers are undergoing a six-week program of advanced combat training,” Stars And Stripes reports.
The Provincial Council of Anbar Province has announced that Iraqi security forces, tribal militants and local forces have freed the town of Baghdadi, west of Rummadi but warned that Islamic State (IS) has gathered insurgents to re-attack the town.
Council member Taha Abdulghani told Iraqi local media that Baghdadi is mostly under the control of the Iraqi army, aside from some hidden IS sniper positions.
At least 26 people have been killed in clashes between Yemen’s Shia Houthi fighters and al-Qaeda-linked militants in the southern province of al-Bayda.
Heavy fighting led to the deaths of 16 Houthi fighters and 10 Sunni militiamen in Yemen’s al-Bayda city, unidentified security officials and tribal sources said.