Airstrikes Killed 350 ISIS Fighters in Ramadi in Past Week

“The US military is ready to help the Iraqis retake Ramadi with greater capabilities if circumstances dictate and if requested by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi”.

Carter said Iraqi army and counter-terrorism units were beginning to enter the city from multiple sides after months of frustrating delays.

He also said that the USA is prepared to deploy advisers and attack helicopters if requested by Iraq to help it “finish the job” of retaking the city of Ramadi from ISIL.

While Iraqi forces were consolidating their gains, Warren, the coalition spokesman, said they also successfully repelled a number of IS counter-attacks Thursday with “significant” coalition air support.

The U.S.-led military campaign “must and will deny ISIL any safe territorial haven, kill or capture its leadership and forces, and destroy its organization” while enabling motivated, local ground forces to defeat ISIL and ensure victory remains, he said.

Retaking Ramadi is expected to require house-to-house urban combat against Sunni militants who have prepared defenses since they took the Sunni-dominated city in May.

Carter’s comments, according to Al Jazeera’s Marwan Bishara, came as a surprise because “for the last five years, the allies have been begging the USA to get more involved in Syria”.

For operations in which USA troops accompany Iraqi forces onto the battlefield, as they did in Sinjar in November, the Americans typically remain at a rear position, advising Iraqi military commanders, standing by to provide medical evacuation and gathering intelligence that can develop targets for air strikes. The Iraqi military claimed to have captured 60% of the city in the first day of the attack.

Carter’s testimony may appear on its face to be an escalation, however when taken with the context that the Iraqi prime minister said last week he does not want more foreign troops to help fight ISIS, his words in reality are somewhat hollow. That, he said is when he believes the tide began to turn against the IS group in the Anbar provincial capital.

Republican members of the panel were impatient, demanding to know how the US would train Syrian forces and why the administration had not enlisted the aid of Arab allies who could provide ground forces.

McCain pressed for more US troops to be sent to stem ISIS momentum.

But even with little IS resistance in terms of numbers, Haimour said clearing territory once it’s been taken back will likely be time-consuming.

One of the main tasks for Iraqi forces is to clear the area of bombs planted by Daesh, a favored tactic of the militants that means they can kill security personnel and civilians long after they have withdrawn from an area.

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has called for all Muslim immigrants to be banned from the United States, warning that there will be additional terror attacks in the USA if his temporary ban is not put in place.