Iraq city liberated from ISIS in an ‘epic’ victory

Iraq’s prime minister made a triumphant visit to Ramadi on Tuesday, a day after his forces took back the city from ISIS by recapturing a key government complex.

A US-led military coalition is supporting Iraq’s campaign to drive the Islamic State group from the country and carried out 630 air strikes during the Iraqi operation in Ramadi.

Iraqi forces retook the key city of Ramadi from IS control on Monday after the city fell to the militants in May this year.

“If 2015 was the year of liberation, 2016, God willing, will be the year of the great victory and the year of the final victory and the end of the presence of ISIS on Iraqi soil and their final great defeat”.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond congratulated the Iraqi government after the national flag was raised over the provincial capital of Anbar.

However, another Iraqi general – Ismail al-Mahlawi, the head of operations in Anbar – said that that ISIS still controlled other areas of the city away from the complex, AP said.

In a televised statement, Iraqi military spokesman Brig.

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. Col. Steve Warren added that the clearance of the government center is a significant accomplishment and is the result of many months of hard work by the Iraqi army.

Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari expressed the need for the Kurds to help retake Mosul, a largely Sunni city, telling Reuters the Peshmerga fighters are a “major force” and will be necessary in that battle.

Iraqi and western forces dealt a “significant blow” to the extremists when their regained control Ramadi yesterday, Phillip Hammond said.

According to AFP, Iraqi officials have estimated the number of ISIS militants in Ramadi city to be 440.

Monday, the government forces neared completing a full retaking of the city – which would be viewed as a major blow to the terror group, also known as Daesh, which has steadily been losing territory recently in both Iraq and Syria. The IS group still controls much of northern and western Iraq, which it seized in the summer of 2014, as well as vast swaths of neighboring Syria.

Soldiers were shown on state television yesterday publicly slaughtering a sheep in an act of celebration.

“This remains a long fight, but the coalition s strategy is succeeding”.

Authorities have not provided casualty figures from the fighting for Ramadi.

On Dec. 28, forces entered the centre of Ramadi, recapturing the main government complex in the city.