After Ramadi, A Look At What’s Next In The Fight Against ISIS

The recapture Monday of Ramadi, which fell to Islamic State in May, is strategically important because the city lies in a province that links Iraq with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and allows direct entry into Baghdad.

Victory in Ramadi, which was seized by ISIL in May, is the first major triumph for Iraq’s army since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the hardline militants 18 months ago. The Iraqi military and U.S.-led coalition have not indicated which city will be the primary focus next to keep the element of surprise, but Warren said Tuesday that Fallujah already has been encircled by Iraqi security forces from three sides.

Abadi has pledged to retake Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad, next year and said this would deal a final blow to Islamic State.

Saddam Hussein’s hometown in Salahuddin province was eventually liberated, although only after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi requested USA airstrikes. Sunni members of tribal militias were deployed to the region around Ramadi to maintain security and prevent Islamic State militants from returning, the Iraqi military said.

The Iraqi trade ministry said it was preparing to send emergency food aid to Ramadi.

During a cabinet meeting he described Ramadi as a ghost city, blaming Daesh for the destruction. The request is a familiar one, as every USA commander in Afghanistan for the past 14 years has said that more troops, or more time, are crucial to stabilizing the country. Iraqi military forces on Monday retook a strategic government complex in the city of Ramadi fro… Warren declined to estimate when he believed the city could be declared fully under Iraqi control.

They said a few hundred members of the Anbar police had arrived to help hold areas cleared by the better trained and equipped counter-terrorism forces, which spearheaded the Ramadi offensive.

Many of the Sunni-aligned rebel groups operating on the ground in Syria appear more interested in fighting the Assad regime than Isil, and David Cameron has now been forced to back down from his claim that there are 70,000 pro-Western fighters in Syria willing to do battle with the extremists.

That strategy includes not only overwhelming Islamic State fighters with coalition air power, but gradually choking off their supply routes and boosting the capability of the Iraqi security forces with specific training and equipment they did not previously have.

ISIS is losing ground, and that’s bad news for a group that wants to take its so-called caliphate global.

A senior officer in the counter-terrorism service that spearheaded the fighting in Ramadi told AFP that IS had driven many of its vehicles and weapons out of the city before the battle began.