Islamic State militants are reported to have seized another town in Iraq's western Anbar Province, less than a week after capturing the provincial capital, Ramadi.
A local tribal leader said on May 22 that the small town of Husseiba fell overnight. Sheikh Rafie al-Fahdawi said police and tribal fighters withdrew after running out of ammunition.
Husseiba is about seven kilometers east of Ramadi, where IS militants routed Iraqi forces in their most significant advance in nearly a year.
On May 21, IS militants captured the Iraqi side of a key border crossing with Syria after Iraqi government forces pulled out.
Commentators say the fall of the Al-Walid crossing, also in Anbar, will help the militants to shuttle weaponry and reinforcements more easily across the Iraqi-Syrian border.
The Iraqi government plans to launch a counteroffensive in Anbar Province involving Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.
