Days After Being Driven out, ISIS Launches Attacks in Ramadi

This comes just few days after the Iraqi army announced recapturing Ramadi and expelling ISIS fighters from the city. Despite the declaration of victory with regards to re-claiming the area, Defence Ministry officials have said it will take more time to completely liberate the al-Anbar province from IS forces.

Later that day the SAS and Iraqi forces seized the building and found three dead jihadis.

The Islamic State (ISIS) group killed at least 12 members of the Iraqi security forces Sunday, January 3, when several suicide attackers infiltrated a base near Tikrit, security officials said.

The Iraqi government said a week ago that it had “liberated” Ramadi from IS.

Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for the Hashid Shaabi – a coalition of mostly Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias set up to fight Islamic State – said Falluja would likely come before Mosul. “Every house is potentially booby-trapped and must be checked”. It was badly damaged in two offensives by USA forces against al Qaeda insurgents in 2004.

Sabah Karhot, the head of Anbar’s provincial council, said as much as 80 percent of Ramadi has been destroyed in the battles.

Standing in the entrance of her tent on a chilly winter night in the Iraqi desert, Nada Saleh describes the terrifying moment her family nearly became part of ISIS’ last stand in Ramadi.

Fallujah, downstream from Ramadi in the Euphrates River valley, is encircled by Iraqi forces, according to the global coalition, though some militants manage to slip past the cordon.

The fighters have imposed an ultra-hardline version of Sunni Islam disavowed by all major Sunni authorities, and carried out mass killings and rapes. In the opinion of another Iraqi soldier, the army is making good grounds and the moral is high. They decided to make a run for it.

“We waited until ISIS went to another alley, and we all left together”.

“They managed to take control of the base when the army had to pull out because it suffered casualties…” More than 52 families had been rescued so far in the city, he said.

“I saw them whipping people in the market”. It can also be used to clear mines and other hidden explosives.

“We were waiting for the Iraqi army to secure a safe path for us”.

An elite British SAS sniper killed three ISIS militants through a 10-inch wall from more than a kilometre away.