Iraqi forces attacked a desert outpost of the Islamic State group near the Syrian border Saturday, in preparation for a push up the Euphrates Valley towards the frontier.

 

The target was the former mining town of Akashat, in the mainly Sunni Anbar province. The town is around a hundred kilometers south of the jihadists' border bastion of Al-Qaim. Iraqi commanders estimate ISIL still has over 1,500 fighters in Al-Qaim. A promised offensive against the town has been delayed by the row over the Kurdish independence referendum. In a separate development in Syria, Syrian government and Russian air strikes targeted U.S.-backed Syrian militias in Deir al-Zour province on Saturday, injuring six.