Iraq launches operation to free Hit

The Iraqi military, supported by Shia fighters and volunteer forces, has mounted an offensive to liberate the town of Hit in Iraq’s restive western province of Anbar.

The operation comes as Iraqi troops have already succeeded in freeing al-Doulab area near Hit from the ISIL Takfiri militants’ grip.

The terror group seized control of Hit in October after the Iraqi army withdrew from its last base there. Hit is a walled market town some 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

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

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

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

The militants have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

New figures released by the United Nations show that violence in Iraq claimed at least 1,273 lives in October alone.