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The top U.S. military officer says that even though ISIS militants are closing in on the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, American airstrikes are concentrating more on protecting the strategically important town of Beiji and the oil refinery there, The Daily Star reported citing news agencies.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says ISIS militants have penetrated the perimeter of the Beiji oil refinery, but the facility is not at risk of falling.

Dempsey says Ramadi "is not symbolic in any way" and the U.S. would want to regain control of the city, where ISIS militants have advanced and clashed with Iraqi troops. But he says Beiji's oil infrastructure is important for Iraq, so the U.S. is focusing a lot of airstrikes there.

ISIS militants clashed with security forces inside Iraq's largest refinery on Thursday and held on to recent gains in the west of the country, as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the extremist group remained "very, very dangerous."

The insurgents suffered a major defeat this month when Iraqi troops and Shi'ite paramilitaries routed them from the city of Tikrit, but are now striking back at Beiji refinery and in the western province of Anbar.

Beiji was attacked several days ago by the militants, who blasted their way through the perimeter and took control of several installations, including a distribution point and storage tanks. They have managed to hold those parts of Beiji.