Iraqi military advances against ISIL in battle for city of Ramadi

Security sources said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who arrived by helicopter with a top military officer at the Anbar University complex in the city’s southern outskirts, would meet commanders from Iraq’s army and counter-terrorism forces, which had spearheaded the offensive. But questions still remained over just how much of Ramadi, which Iraqi forces were forced to abandon in May, was under government control and just what was left of the city for civilians to return to. ISIL fighters have retreated from about 70 percent of city, but still control the rest, and government forces still don’t fully control numerous districts from which the ISIL fighters have retreated. After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex today.

“We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh”, he added. “There are still neighborhoods under their control and there are still pockets of resistance”.

State TV on Monday showed pictures of soldiers in Ramadi firing their guns in the air and publicly slaughtering a sheep in celebration.

“It’s the behavior of thugs, it’s the behavior of killers, it’s the behavior of terrorists”, Col. Steven Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, told reporters in a press briefing.

In Washington, the Pentagon praised the “significant” development as “the result of many months of hard work”.

Britain has been carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq since September a year ago as part of a US-led worldwide coalition.

“Now it’s important for the Iraqi government, working with provincial and local authorities, to seize this opportunity to maintain the peace in Ramadi, prevent the return of [ISIS] and other extremists, and facilitate the return of Ramadi’s citizens back to the city”, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State said the victory is a “milestone on the path to clear Da’esh from the historic city”- sidestepping claims by Baghdad that the city had been retaken.

“If 2015 was a year of liberation, 2016 will be the year of great victories, terminating the presence of Daesh (IS) in Iraq and Mesopotamia”, he said in a televised address.

US President Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii with his family, received an update yesterday on the Iraqi forces’ progress in Ramadi, the White House said. Mosul, northern Iraq’s main city, is by far the largest population centre in the self-proclaimed caliphate Islamic State rules in Iraq and Syria. Reuters however quoted a anonymous USA official as saying that he can not determine now if the war against IS in Ramadi is over or not. The capture of Ramadi would be a major victory for Iraqi troops, but would also test the government’s ability to bridge the country’s sectarian divide.