Kurdish forces continue offensive against ISIL in Iraq

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, backed by the Iraqi army, are pushing ahead to recapture areas in Diyala and Kirkuk provinces from the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group, a Kurdish military official says.

Jaber Yawer, a Peshmerga spokesman, said on Wednesday that Kurdish forces and Iraqi soldiers have launched a joint operation to liberate the towns of Saadiya and Jalula in the eastern province of Diyala. The ISIL Takfiri militants had seized the towns in August.

Kurdish forces also have launched an offensive to clear areas near the town of Kharbaroot, 35 kilometers west of the northern city of Kirkuk.

On Tuesday, Iraqi security forces entered the country’s largest oil refinery near the key northern town of Baiji for the first time after a months-long operation against the ISIL terrorists in the area.

Iraqi soldiers and volunteer forces freed the central areas of Baiji on November 11 and have established security and stability there.

The ISIL terrorists currently control swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq. They have been committing heinous crimes in the captured areas, including mass executions and beheading local residents as well as foreign nationals.