ISIS takes fourth Iraqi town in two days, opens link to Jordan
All four towns – Qaim, Rawah, Anah and Rutba – captured by Al Qaeda-linked Islamists in the last two days are situated on the strategic highway from the Syrian border to Baghdad. Government troops laid down their arms and fled. DEBKAfile: Rutba also commands the last stretch of highway from Baghdad to neighboring Jordan. In two days, therefore, after capturing the Qaim crossing to Syria, ISIS is close to controlling Iraq’s borders with Jordan as well as Syria. Threatened now is Haditha, the town which houses the national power grid and a key Euphrates River dam.