Iraqi forces capture foothold in Ramadi

“For the first time in Iraq and the Arab world, Chinese drones of the CH4 model have entered duty and we conducted operations using them more than two weeks ago covering vast areas, almost 250 kilometers from the city of Baghdad, or more, giving us a strategic advantage over our enemy”, said aviation commander, Hamid al-Maliki.

“This is an important step, but there is still tough fighting ahead”.

Republican members of the panel were impatient, demanding to know how the US would train Syrian forces and why the administration had not enlisted the aid of Arab allies who could provide ground forces.

The offensive to retake Ramadi, in the works for months, is a major test for Iraq’s military, which has been undergoing extensive training since collapsing in the face of an Islamic State onslaught in 2014. “It’s time for Russian Federation to focus on the right side of this fight”.

An Iraqi brigadier general involved in the Ramadi operation said civilians who are able to move are being urged to head to Humayrah, a staging ground controlled by Iraqi forces on the southern edge of Ramadi.

The fall of Ramadi was the biggest blow to Iraqi forces since IS captured Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul in the summer of 2014.

“The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi army with additional unique capabilities to help them finish the job, including attack helicopters and accompanying advisers” if circumstances dictate the extra assistance and if requested by Iraq, Carter said.

The U.S. has 3,500 troops in Iraq in six different locations in support of Iraqi Security forces, Carter said.

Anthony Cordesman, a long-time Middle East defense expert at the Center for International Security Studies, says the commando force could be helpful if used as part of a broader US strategy for developing effective local ground forces in both Syria and Iraq.

President Barack Obama is under mounting pressure to escalate America’s military role in Iraq and Syria, particularly after the 13 November assaults in Paris that killed 130 people, claimed by Islamic State, and last week’s paramilitary-style attack in California by a couple believed by authorities to have been inspired by Islamist militancy.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said deploying a significant force of US troops to the region would be counterproductive.

Selva declined to provide a full answer outside of a classified setting, but said, “Today they share the goal of wanting to take their homes back and beat ISIL”.

In another terse stand-off with the senior senator, Carter acknowledged that the extremist group has not yet been contained after more than a year of unrelenting airstrikes, but said the U.S.-led coalition is “building momentum against ISIL”.

I fear that we are going about a policy of containment which might not address the entire reason ISIS aka ISiL aka Islamic State is around. “That has not materialized among them”, Carter said. “So in the end, while we can enable them, we cannot substitute for them”, Carter said.