The fierce battle enters into third day, but Baghdad failed to loosen the grasp of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants from the Beiji oil refinery facility which normally produces 300,000 barrel per day. Iraqi soldiers and helicopter gunships battled militants for a third day on Thursday for control of Iraq’s largest oil refinery, the loss of which deals huge stigma on the military prestige of Baghdad and likewise to its military spirit.

The two sides hold different parts of the facility which extends over several square Kilometers of the desert. The facility is of high importance for both sides. Militants hope keeping the facility will shower them with millions of dollars and finance major part of their expenditures. Similarly, after the collapse of Mosul, Baghdad felt ashamed as tens of thousands of its soldiers could not stand against few hundred of militants and left their weapons left behind. In order to recover its prestige and show that is soldiers are good for getting salary not battle, it has decided to respond with full force.

Meanwhile, it seems that Iraqi forces except its terrifying number---more than nine hundred thousand---has no countable characteristic to count on. It is really hard to call them as trained soldiers because armed civilians also may not give up the battle front that easily when they are incomparable in terms of number. But Iraqi security forces by handing over Mosul, one of the largest cities and several other small cities brought shame for Baghdad and indeed also displayed the disaster within the back bone of Iraqi security forces. Perhaps, it is a large establishment sucking billions of dollars but unable to cope with few thousand of ISIL militants inside its border.

Noticing the problem and fearing about the collapse of government, President Barack Obama promised to 300 military advisers to help Iraqi forces stem violent sectarian fighting and is prepared to take ‘targeted’ and ‘precise’ military actions if they would help fight the growing threat from militants. On Tuesday, he said that US forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq but will help train Iraqis.

Meanwhile Washington has given signals about Iran involvement in Iraq however not from military point of view but from supporting Maliki to play a greater role and get the trust of Minority Sunni back which presently seems so tough, providing deep sectarian distrust.