(MENAFN- The Peninsula) ANBAR, Iraq: Iraqi forces have wrested control of the Al-Qaim border crossing with Syria from the IS terrorist group, Iraqi military sources said Friday.
'Iraqi anti-terrorism forces, backed by tribal volunteer fighters, have successfully liberated the Al-Qaim border crossing, Iraqi Army Colonel Walid al-Duleimi told Anadolu Agency.
Located in Iraq's western Anbar province (roughly 410 kilometers west of provincial capital Ramadi), the Al-Qaim crossing links the Iraqi city of Husaybah to the town of Abu Kamal in Syria's Deir ez-Zour province.
'Our forces managed to retake the crossing after killing several IS elements, said al-Duleimi, adding that 'large numbers of IS militants had fled across the border into neighboring Syria.
Last month, Al-Qaim became the last IS-held Iraq-Syria border crossing after Iraqi forces retook the Al-Walid and Rabia crossings respectively located in Anbar and Nineveh province.
The Al-Qaim border crossing stands roughly two kilometers west of the Iraqi city of Al-Qaim, which Iraqi forces reportedly captured on Friday.
Last month, the Iraqi army began a wide-ranging campaign aimed at capturing the cities of Rawa and Al-Qaim, IS's last remaining redoubts in Anbar province.
The notorious terrorist group has recently suffered a string of crushing defeats in both Iraq and Syria after overrunning vast swathes of territory in both countries in 2014.
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