Iraqi border city eyes IS advance amid dust storms
Iraqi security forces on Iraq's border with Syria have been placed on a higher level of alert amid an Islamic State advance on the Syrian side of the border.
Severe dust storms have facilitated advances by the Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in recent days, putting the largest Iraqi city alongside it at risk.
Otherworldly shades of red, orange and sandy yellow were an intermittent backdrop for days across most of western Anbar, with very low visibility rendering airstrikes and other coalition activities against the terrorist group still in control of Hejin across the border in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province difficult.
IS has retaken the entire Syrian side of the Baghouz area and the town of Soussa in recent days, Al-Monitor was told by security sources working near the border on Oct. 29.
US airstrikes in the past month in and near the town of Hejin have hit targets with reportedly large numbers of civilians in them, including mosques, possibly indicating a significant shift from long-standing counterinsurgency doctrines and tighter targeting rules.
