Iraqi Forces Move To Clear Remaining Areas of Ramadi

“We commend the government of Iraq and the fearless Iraqi forces that are displaying tremendous perseverance and courage in this fight”, Secretary of State John Kerry said.

The words had been promised for months, and finally they were heard: “I am pleased to announce the liberation of Ramadi”.

The disclosure comes as the Iraqi army and popular troops are attempting to secure victory over the jihadist group in Ramadi.

“Greater involvement by Sunni Arabs is needed before the forces fighting Islamic State develop the capability to take, hold and police predominantly Sunni Arab territories from the group”, he said.

IS 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 IS fighters have retreated. Iraqi troops began advancing into some parts of the city, located about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, earlier this month. Once a key battleground in the USA invasion of Iraq from 2003-2011, the state has become an ISIS stronghold over the past year as the extremist organization expanded deeper into Iraq and Syria.

President Barack Obama – who is now in Hawaii for the Christmas holidays – was also briefed Monday on the progress made in Ramadi, a White House statement said.

The government sidelined the PMF in the Ramadi battle to ensure air support from the USA which is reluctant to be seen fighting on the same side as the Iranian-backed militias.

The Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” is far from dead but back-to-back losses in Syria and Iraq have turned a series of setbacks for the jihadists into a losing streak.

“2016 will be the year of the big and final victory, when Daesh’s presence in Iraq will be terminated”, Mr Abadi said on state television, using another name for Islamic State.

“This is a major step in restoring the authority of the Iraqi state in the service of all its citizens”, Hollande said.

“ISIS was defeated and hundreds of its criminal terrorists were killed” in Ramadi, the prime minister said, according to Iraqi News.

In Sinjar, rival Kurdish factions got together, with aerial support from the US-led coalition, to retake the city.

In June a year ago, Daesh overran Mosul – the country’s second largest city – before moving on to capture additional territory in both Iraq and Syria.

Abadi took office in September 2014 after the Islamic State advance, pledging to reconcile Iraq’s warring sectarian communities. American-trained Sunni tribesmen are part of a force that is supposed to hold Ramadi and prevent Islamic State militants from returning. He said the Islamic State’s power derived not from military strength but from “the weakness of its enemies, first and foremost the Iraqi state with its Shiite-dominated government”.

Still, Daniel Byman, a Georgetown professor who studies global jihadi movements, said the campaign to retake Ramadi was a cause for cautious optimism. Islamic State militants have already blown up some of the bridges into the city in anticipation of a coming assault.