`Iraqi forces retake Syria border crossing`

Ramadi: Iraqi security forces regained control of the Al-Waleed border crossing between Iraq and Syria after Sunni Arab militants briefly seized it, officers said today.

The militants took the crossing on Sunday, but as of this evening, it was back in Iraqi government hands, a police colonel and a major in the border guards said. The militants withdrew without fighting, the officers said, allowing security forces to move back in.

The two other official border posts between Iraq and Syria - Al-Qaim and Rabia - are still outside central government hands. Militants control the first while security forces from the country`s autonomous Kurdish region hold the second.

A major militant offensive, led by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also involving other groups, has overrun swathes of five Iraqi provinces since it was launched on June 9.

Security forces wilted under the initial onslaught, and are now struggling to hold their ground in the face of the relentless militant drive.