ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Both sides of the Syria-Iraq border crossing al-Waleed are now in the hands of ISIS, an Anbar province police source said, with the Syrian side falling the the extremists on Sunday. “The Iraqi-Syrian border gate of al-Waleed was completely captured by Daesh gunmen overnight in both Syrian and Iraqi sides,” the source said on Sunday. The source, who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity, also claimed al-Waleed is the third border crossings to fall to ISIS militias in the past weeks, with Qaim and Yoruba checkpoints captured earlier by the jihadists. Suaad Jassim, head of Anbar’s committee for border affairs in the al-Waleed area, confirmed the loss of the crossing to and blamed the Iraqi government and army. “The fall of al-Waleed to the Daesh gunmen was due to the Iraqi army’s withdrawal from the region,” Jassim said. He claimed Baghdad had ignored calls for more troops in the region. ISIS seized control of the Anbar city of Ramadi on May 15, sending Iraqi forces pouring out of the city in a major loss despite the support of US-led airstrikes targeting the extremists. Just days later, the group captured the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. It has been reported that ISIS now controls 50 percent of Syria.
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