ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />Iraqi government forces launched aerial bombardments against insurgents in Anbar Province, according to video released by the ministry of defense.<br/> <br />The footage showed several targets being hit, including vehicles and buildings.<br/> <br />A statement released with the footage stated: ''The Iraqi air forces have recently shelled hideouts of fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Levant in the restive province of Anbar.''<br/> <br />The footage was date-stamped January 14 and 15, 2014. Reuters is unable to independently verify this.<br/> <br />Iraqi government forces have been battling an al Qaeda offensive near the Syrian border.<br/> <br />Al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been steadily tightening its grip in the vast Anbar province in recent months in a bid to create a Sunni Muslim state straddling the frontier with Syria.<br/> <br />Their fighters had been controlling large parts of the desert in western Iraq along the
