Iraqi forces have made progress against Islamic State fighters in Beiji, but both the Iraqi city and its key refinery complex north of the city remain contested, the Pentagon said Monday.
“We are not prepared to declare Beiji as liberated,” said Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren.
The fight is occurring on two fronts: the city itself, and the massive refinery complex. Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, predominantly Shiite fighters, most of whom have pledged loyalty to the government of Iraq, are battling remaining pockets of Islamic State fighters inside the city. The Iraqi Security Forces are primarily involved in the fight at the refinery.
But beyond those broad brushstrokes, the Pentagon has been unable to provide specifics on what forces are actually in combat at Beiji.
For example, the Pentagon is watching heavy artillery controlled by Shiite forces to the east of the city that has been supportive in targeting the Islamic State, “but it’s difficult to tell who is pulling the trigger [at] these locations,” Warren said.
In the past several weeks, Iranian-backed forces have provided reinforcements and supplies for the fight in Beiji near those locations. In the city itself, the Pentagon was unable to say whether any of the now 8,900 Iraqi troops who U.S. and coalition partners have trained are participating in the fight, and it could not provide any breakdown of the Iraqi units that are there.
Beiji began to turn after Iraqi forces made their way north toward the refinery, opening a resupply route, a slow maneuver that has been in the works over the past few weeks, Warren said.
While the Pentagon welcomed the progress at Beiji, Warren cautioned that both locations are still “hotly contested.”
