Iraqi forces in fierce battles with IS in Ramadi

Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province, was Islamic State’s biggest prize of 2015, abandoned by government forces in May in a major setback for Baghdad that forced Washington to look hard at its strategy against the militants.

Iraqi forces dodged sniper fire, vehicle bombs, roadside bombs and booby traps as they battled on Friday to root out jihadist fighters hunkered down in a strategic compound in central Ramadi.

“You have the 8th Iraqi army and CTS… and they’re all pushing forward”, said Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US-led coalition which has been supporting Iraqi forces in Ramadi with daily air strikes.

Iraqi troops have pushed deeper into the heart of the last remaining district held by Islamic State in the city of Ramadi, an army spokesman said on Saturday. Although Iraqi troops tremendously outnumber the Islamic State fighters, they’ve struggled to advance in a landscape dotted with land mines & improvised explosive units.

The latest fighting around the government complex left at least two members of the Iraqi security forces dead and nine wounded, according to Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a police captain.

A key component of ISIS’s victory in May was the use of dozens of massive suicide auto bombs to blitz government positions but, more than six months on, the security forces came prepared.

The push to reclaim Ramadi is part of a broader mission launched by the USA and Iraqi government’s to push ISIS out of Iraq and contain it in Syria.

“We support Iraq’s request and this reflects our great Arab solidarity with them”.

To that end, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also announced Friday that troops will move to reclaim the northern city of Mosul. It would also represent a base of operations for future missions to take back the ISIS-held city of Fallujah which is around 70 miles east of Ramadi.

That defeat was Baghdad’s worst in the war against IS, and a victory now would provide a welcome boost to the much-criticized federal forces.

Besides Fallujah, ISIS still controls Iraq’s second city of Mosul, around which preparations for an offensive to retake are still at a very early stage.