Iraq: The US Has Intervened to Help Iraq Hold Its Most Important Oil Facility

Oct 24, 2014 | Stephen Snyder, Public Radio International
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The refinery, the largest in the country, is surrounded by ISIS fighters and their supporters. It's been shut down since mid-June, but the government is still clinging to control. A force of several hundred Iraqi troops and government supporters inside the refinery has fought off numerous attacks by insurgents over the past four months.

Ben Lando, editor of the Iraq Oil Report, says his sources report that the Iraqi government stopped running its own supply flights to the refinery after ISIS, which also calls itself the Islamic State, shot down at least two Iraqi helicopters in recent weeks.