Militants Attack Largest Refinery

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Militants on Wednesday attacked the largest oil refinery of Iraq. Clashes erupted around 4.00 am local time at the refinery at the Baiji oil refinery in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad. Militants attacked the refinery with mortar and machine gun. One mortar hit a spare-parts warehouse and smoke billowed from the building, the sources said.

A refinery employee said there had been casualties among security force personnel and that staff had fled.

This amounts to be a blow to the Iraqi Government which tries its best to block the march of the militants who have been advancing towards the capital city of Baghdad.

Shiite Militias to Fight Militancy

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Iraqi Shiite militias that have provided crucial support to President Bashar al-Assad on Syria’s battlefields are remobilizing to Iraq to help the government there fight off opposition forces closing in on Baghdad, diplomats and Syrian rebels say.

The mobilization away from Syria started in late December when anti-government forces seized Iraq’s western Anbar province, but has recently gained pace as militants have taken more territory, including Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Fighters from Hezbollah are filling the vacuum left in Syria by the withdrawing Iraqi militias, according to Syrian rebels and an official close to the Lebanese militant and political group.

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