Battle of Baiji

The Iraqi air force on April 19 carried out a “deadly raid” against positions of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in neighboring Syria, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said.

Iraqi paramilitary forces, the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, announced Nov. 16 that they had entered the Tal Afar airport west of Mosul and were fighting to clear pockets of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists inside it.

A suicide bomber driving a car killed at least 19 people and wounded 48 others on April 30 in an attack claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on a group of Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims in a southeastern suburb of Baghdad, Iraqi police sources said.

Baghdad on Dec. 5 demanded the immediate withdrawal of forces it said Turkey "illegally" sent into Iraq, which is struggling to assert its sovereignty while receiving foreign assistance against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Agence France-Presse reported.

Iraqi forces battled Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on separate fronts on Oct. 15, ramping up operations to retake Baiji and Ramadi, two of the conflict's worst flashpoints.

The Baiji area has seen almost uninterrupted fighting since ISIL  swept across Iraq last year, but top officers said on Oct. 15 the Baiji refinery, the country's largest, was almost secure.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters have regained territory in the contested city of Baiji, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery, the Pentagon said Sept. 2.

Seventeen people were killed in Iraq on June 15 in clashes between Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and pro-government forces in a town close to the country?s biggest refinery, a focal point in efforts to counter the ultra-hardline Sunni group. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has used an international gathering on energy as an opportunity to question the motives of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in its ?constant oil operations? in the region.

Iraq's largest oil refinery is under growing threat from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists, who have advanced inside the perimeter of the facility, the US military said May 6.

Iraqi ground forces secured the perimeter around the country?s biggest oil refinery on April 18 and entered the vast complex amid heavy clashes with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, said a senior Iraqi military official.