How Retaking Ramadi Is a Big Win for Obama’s Anti-ISIS Strategy

The capital of Anbar province, Ramadi was one of the Iraqi cities under the full control of IS fighters.

An Iraqi military officer told the AP that the militants had retreated from the government complex to other parts of the city. Iraqi troops began advancing into some parts of the city, located about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, earlier this month.

Iraq’s defence minister, Khaled al-Obeidi, said a week ago that Iraqi forces had reconquered more than half of the territory lost to IS in June and August 2014.

An RAF spokesman said armed reconnaissance missions by Tornado and Typhoon jets as well as drones had taken out targets including large groups of terrorists engaged with Iraqi government forces.

“We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh”, he added.

Yesterday, the capital of Anbar province, Iraq’s largest province, was back in the hands of the Iraqi army, which was also celebrating the fact that it did not owe this significant victory to the Shia militias that have been responsible for most recent gains made at the expense of Isis.

However, we should be very wary of predicting the fate of Mosul.

They said that more than 300 booby traps had been left in and around the government compound area alone. He said at its peak there were up to 1,000 IS fighters in Ramadi, and that only 150-250 remain.

Iraq’s future depends on building a truly competent military that is representative of the nation’s ethnic and religious mix, and on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi fulfilling his pledge to protect the nation’s Sunni minority.

“The retaking of the government complex – the last major redoubt of Islamic State fighters in Ramadi – was a strategic and symbolic victory after days of fighting”.

“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.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Iraqi forces for “displaying tremendous perseverance and courage”. “The Iraqi counter terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex in Anbar”, joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in a statement broadcast on state television.

The IS group still controls much of northern and western Iraq, as well as vast swaths of neighboring Syria.

The Iraqis were also smart to move gradually against Ramadi.

Many reports have emerged from territory under IS control of extensive human rights abuses, including crucifixions and executions for even the slightest violation of Islamic teaching.