Sunni fighters seized a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier overnight, security sources at the border said on Saturday, June 21, a strategic gain which will allow them to move heavy weapons between territory they control in both countries, Reuters reported.

The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, first moved into the nearby town of al-Qaim on Friday, pushing out security forces, the sources said.

Once border guards heard that al-Qaim had fallen, they left their posts and militants moved in, Reuters quoted the sources as saying.