More Ramadi neighborhoods liberated by the Iraqi army

Mr Numani said troops from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, backed by the army, Sunni tribesmen and US-led coalition aircraft, had begun the assault on central Ramadi at dawn and were advancing towards the government complex.

The two sides also agreed to share intelligence on foreign fighters having joined the ranks of jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, a figure that has more than doubled since previous year to at least 27,000, according to a recent report by an intelligence consultancy.

Members of the Iraqi security forces point at destruction in the rural Husayba al-Sharkiya area, east of Anbar province’s capital Ramadi, as they undertake military operations to attack Daesh positions on December 20, 2015. The government wanted to rely entirely on its own troops rather than using Shia militias to bolster its forces, as it has in the past.

There are reportedly still thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of civilians inside Ramadi.

A USA military spokesman says the capture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi by government troops is “inevitable”.

Retaking Ramadi would provide a major psychological boost to Iraqi security forces after ISIS seized a third of Iraq, a major Opec oil producer and United States ally, last year.

The breakthrough came earlier this month when counter-terrorism forces broke down IS defences and retook the key southwestern neighbourhood of Al-Tameem.

“In the name of Allah, the gracious and merciful – To Our People in Ramadi City – as of your armed forces to liberate your city, they had observed [civilians trapped] in the central of the city and we had received distress [calls to warn] you to leave the city by taking one of the [escape routes].”

Special forces soldiers, who have been leading the fight from the southwest, crossed the Warrar canal using the bridge assembled by military engineers.

Iraqi forces on Tuesday reported progress in the military operation to retake the city of Ramadi from the Islamic State group, saying they made the most significant incursion into the city since it fell to the militants in May.

Colonel Warren called the instructions in the leaflets “the behavior of thugs, behavior of killers, the behavior of terrorists”.

Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government eventually want to launch a campaign to liberate the northern city of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. Iraqi forces have encountered “simple” resistance from the militants, he said.

On Monday, Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said that he had agreed to the deployment of 200 American ground forces in Iraq to help with the operations against the Islamic State.

Even if the Iraqi military finally does reclaim Ramadi from the Islamic State, regional experts warn, the Sunni city will not take kindly to being overrun by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi military.