"The ISIL (Islamic State, ISIS, IS and Daesh) terrorists and their families have withdrawn from Rataba fearing the Iraqi army's operations in the city and fled to the city of al-Qaem in the Western part of Ramadi," Iraqi Army's Military Operations in Anbar Province Major General Ali Ebrahim Daboun told FNA on Monday.

Earlier, the Iraqi forces had managed to win back the city of Heet (Hit), Doulab region, Zakhikha region and al-Baghdadi-Heet route.

On Sunday, Iraq's Interior Ministry announced that a sum of 3,452 ISIL terrorists have been killed in the Iraqi army operations since the beginning of 2016.

Iraq's Western provinces have been the scenes of increasing attacks on the ISIL terrorists in recent months.

On Friday, a senior Iraqi tribal leader underlined that the ISIL has been badly weakened in Anbar province in Western Iraq, and the Takfiri terrorists' leaders are fleeing towards Turkish borders.

"The artillery and missile attacks of the Iraqi army on ISIL's military positions have forced the terrorists and their leaders to escape to the country's borders with Turkey," Al-Anbar tribal leader Sheikh Hamid al-Hayes told FNA.

He reiterated that the Iraqi joint forces continue their mop-up operations in Anbar province.

Sheikh al-Hayes said that the fugitive ISIL commanders have also taken their families to Turkey.

On Wednesday, Iraqi security sources in Anbar Province announced that the Iraqi forces besieged three villages in al-Baghdadai Island, West of Ramadi, in preparation for storming and cleansing it from the ISIL control.

“The joint forces from al-Jazeera and al-Badiya Operations Command in Anbar Province and al-Jaghaifa tribal fighters managed to besiege three villages in Baghdadi Island in Heet District,” the source said in a statement, Iraqi News reported.

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