Iraqi security forces on Tuesday repelled the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant terrorist group’s attacks in Iraq’s western province of Anbar

Iraqi security forces on Tuesday repelled the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant terrorist group’s attacks in Iraq's western province of Anbar, while military preparations continued for a major operation to recapture the provincial capital city of Ramadi that fell in the hands of the ISIL militants after deadly battles in the past few days, a provincial security source said.

The troops and popular mobilization forces, known as Hashd Shaabi, along with allied tribal fighters, repelled attacks by the ISIL terrorists on the edge of the town of Khaldiyah, some 80 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and the nearby areas of Mudheij and Abu Flies, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Sporadic clashes also occurred when ISIL attacked the villages of the tribe of Albu Fahad outside Khaldiyah, where the tribal fighters repelled the attackers, the source said without giving further details.

Khaldiyah and villages on the main road to Ramadi are redoubts of the government-backed tribe of Albu Fahad, which mobilized some 4,000 of its tribesmen to defend their homes against the attacks by the ISIL extremist militants.

The battles on the edge of Khaldiyah and the presence of hundreds of troops and militiamen turned the town to be a battleground and forced hundreds of families in the town to flee their homes, the source added.

The huge military airbase of Habbaniyah, just near Khaldiyah, came under heavy barrage of rockets and mortar rounds during the past 24 hours, the source said without giving details about casualties.