Iraq army breaks siege on main oil refinery

Iraqi army forces have broken the siege on the country’s main oil refinery in the restive Salahuddin province where security forces are fighting the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

“Iraqi forces … reached the gate of the refinery,” the governor of the northern Salahuddin province, Raad al-Juburi, said Saturday.

Three officers also confirmed that Iraqi forces had reached the refinery.

The refinery, which is located near the city of Baiji in the country’s north, had been under the siege of the ISIL militants for months. It produces some 300,000 barrels of oil per day, meeting a great portion of the country’s demands.

The advance to Iraq’s largest oil refinery comes a few days after the recapturing of the strategic city by Iraqi forces from the ISIL militants. The Iraqi army carried out a mom up operation across the city on Friday.

Iraqi soldiers and volunteer forces managed to free the central areas of Baiji on November 11 and establish security and stability there.

Iraqi forces have already flushed the ISIL terrorists out of the central parts of the Salahuddin province.

The ISIL militants had been controlling Baiji since June. The liberation of the town is believed to choke off the militants’ supply lines.

The ISIL terrorists hold control of large areas across eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq.