The Iraqi army's Special Forces have been dispatched to al-Khalediya island in the Eastern part of Ramadi from three different directions.
In a relevant development on February 20, the Iraqi Counterterrorism Center announced that the country's forces had fully purged terrorists from Sarsar lake region in Salahuddin province.
"The Iraqi counterterrorism forces backed by volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) drove out the militants from Sarsar lake region," the Arabic-language Al-Sumeria news website quoted an unnamed spokesman of Iraqi Counterterrorism Center as saying.
He reiterated that the Iraqi forces are now in full control of the Northern part of Sarsar lake, and said, "Um al-Araneb village has also been won back by the Iraqi forces."
On Thursday, Iraqi Army and popular forces managed to make major gains in Salahuddin province for a third consecutive day.
The Iraqi forces managed to purge more ISIS militants from the western parts of the province, recapturing at least 8 villages, or 95 percent of the island.
Meantime, the operations command in Samarra announced the killing of ISIS security commander in Samarra Island in Salahuddin province.
The command told Iraqi news agency, Furat News, that the Iraqi air force killed the terrorists Hayawi Mohammad Khamis al-Nisyani along with his assistant Bashar al-Bazi and 13 other terrorists in an airstrike south of Samarra Island, as it is called without being an island.
The command noted that the strike was based on intelligence information.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Iraqi forces, backed by volunteer fighters managed to seize the oil refinery along with several surrounding points in the area.
The operations commands said that the Iraqi allied forces started the second stage of the military operation in Salahuddin which is aimed at purging ISIS terrorists on Wednesday.
Iraqi volunteer forces have already voiced their readiness to seize back two key regions in Salahuddin province.
"The volunteer forces will begin their military operations to take control of the strategic Sharqat and al-Sarsar regions in Salahuddin province," the volunteer forces commanders said.
Al-Sarsar region is located to the West of Samarra and to the North of Ramadi city. This highly strategic region links several Iraqi provinces, FNA reported.
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