[14] On 28 February, the Iraqi government warned the civilians in Kabisa and the Hīt District to leave within 48 hours, to avoid an imminent offensive to recapture those areas.

[11] On the same day, U.S.-led Coalition forces conducted several airstrikes within Hīt, killing a number of ISIL leaders and militants, which Iraqi officials confirmed.

“The majority of Daesh (ISIS) fighters in Hīt, Rutba and Kubaysa have fled through the desert to other regions,” Yahya Rasool, Iraq’s top security spokesman, told the press.

Earlier, an army general and a mayor said that ISIL had also pulled its fighters out of Ar-Rutba, a desert town in Anbar, and headed to al-Qaim.

[20] Meanwhile, more troops and Sunni tribal units, backed by U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft, advanced during the day in two routes from the Al Asad Airbase, towards Hīt and the nearby town of Kabisa.

[28] A security source announced that another 60 ISIL militants were killed in an aerial bombing by Iraqi F-16 fighter jets on their strongholds and gatherings, in the districts of Sharqat and Hīt.

[30] The offensive was reported to have been delayed earlier, because hundreds of roadside bombs littering the surrounding area slowed progress for days.

[30] Furthermore, it was reported that a significant number of troops had been pulled out of Al Anbar Governorate earlier to protect protesters in Baghdad, which also resulted in delays.

[31] On 2 April, Iraqi Government forces carried out a string of counter-terrorism operations in close proximity to the town of Hīt, and managed to recapture the regions of Basateen, Mourour, Saklat, and Askari.

Iraqi fighter jets also bombed an ISIL base and killed 13 terrorists elsewhere in Anbar, while a weapons depot and a tunnel were destroyed in the al-Sen and Tal al-Marg Districts of Hīt.

[citation needed] Iraqi Security Forces and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters and managed to seize the al-Ma'mil District on the eastern edge of the town, after heavy clashes with ISIL militants.

[42] British warplanes carried out airstrikes on the same day that helped in destroying one of the last remaining strongpoints of the militants on the eastern outskirts of the town and struck an ISIL machine-gun position.

The airstrikes allowed Iraqi forces to enter the town's hospital where they found a booby-trapped ambulance which was later destroyed by RAF jets.

Iraqi Security Forces were able to dismantle 200 explosive devices in the eastern axis of the Hīt District, as well as destroying a 23 mm machine gun and a rocket launcher.

[49] On 8 October, the Iraqi Army’s Seventh Division as well as the police and tribal forces managed to liberate the villages of Ebla, Abu al-Ela, al-Sawer and al-Judafiya near Khan al Baghdadi, killing of 23 ISIL militants.