Iraqi forces tighten grip on Beiji

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Baghdad, June 5, IRNA -- The Iraqi security and Hashd al-Shabi (volunteer) forces continued their advances in the Beiji city and are now only 100 m away from al-Fattah mosque in city center of Beiji to the North of Tikrit and they hoisted Iraq's flags over government buildings.

Baghdad, June 5, IRNA – The Iraqi security and Hashd al-Shabi (volunteer) forces continued their advances in the Beiji city and are now only 100 meters away from al-Fattah mosque in city center of Beiji to the North of Tikrit in Salahuddin province and they hoisted Iraq's flags over governmental buildings of the city.

'The attack on the Center of Beiji took place from three Eastern, Western and Middle angles on Thursday morning,' Hash al-Shabi sources told IRNA on Thursday.

The sources noted that Hashd al-Shabi forces and the ISIL terrorists had heavy clashes fro several hours and they left the scene of the battle after leaving behind bodies of the dead as well as weapons and equipment.

They reiterated that al-Fattah mosque is the last phase of Beiji operations and taking control of that means full control over the Beiji city center.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi forces took control of Beiji dam from the ISIL.

Beiji dam is located in Northern Tikrit and it is regarded as highly important and strategic.

On May 25, the Iraqi forces took back vast areas of Beiji oil refinery. The Iraqi counterterrorism forces ended ISIL's siege of the refinery and rescued tens of soldiers who were surrounded by the Takfiri terrorists.

'The siege of Beiji (oil refinery) in Northern Tikrit was broken and 300 soldiers who were also surrounded in the refinery were also released,' Qais Khazali, Secretary-General of Assaeb Ahl al-Haq popular movement, said.

Khazali underlined that Assaeb Ahl al-Haq and Iraqi army jointly carried out the military operations to break the Beiji refinery siege.

Meantime, Sa'ad Ma'an, spokesman of joint operations, said that the Iraqi security forces struck heavy blow on terrorists in Beiji.

Last week, the Iraqi forces took control of two important districts of the town of Beiji.

The Iraqi forces purged Beiji's Sekak and al-Askari districts of ISIL terrorists.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control shrinking swathes of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.

Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.

The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.

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