Iraq ‘few days’ from liberating Ramadi from ISIL

The loss of Ramadi in mid-May had been Baghdad’s worst defeat in the war against Daesh and its recapture would provide a welcome morale boost to the country’s much-criticized military.

Since overrunning Ramadi, just 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, the Islamic State group has destroyed all the bridges around the city.

Iraqi forces have not yet broken through the front line of ISIL’s defenses.

“The United States is willing to do more in association to support the Iraqi security forces in that mission”, said Carter.

“Booby-trapped houses, suicide attacks, improvised explosive devices, snipers, mortars, rockets: Daesh (IS) is using everything it’s got to stop the progress of the security forces”, said Fahdawi. Analysts do, however, forecast that the recapture of Ramadi is likely to exacerbate tensions between Iraq’s central government and the strongly US / NATO-backed Kurdish administration of Barzani in northern Iraq.

Dozens of families have escaped Ramadi and turned to army units that are fighting their way into the city in a fierce battle with Islamic State (ISIS), a local official said.

Warren was leery of providing estimates, but said about 250-300 fighters affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, were believed to be in the city, with another several hundred in positions on the outskirts.

If it is captured, it will be the second major city after Tikrit to be retaken from Islamic State in Iraq. Col. Steve Warren, a USA military spokesman in Baghdad, said at a briefing on Tuesday that “tens of thousands” still could be in the city.

ISIS has surrounded the area though and prevented a lot more of the civilians from leaving the area, and two weeks ago security forces began to circle the city in an effort to take back what is rightfully theirs.

The recapture of Ramadi would be another major setback for IS, which – despite its ability to project its threat in Iraq and beyond, as was made clear by last month’s Paris attacks – is a weakening force.

Civilians in the city remain yet another obstacle blocking the military’s advance.

Ramadi, like the rest of Anbar province, is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, the minority community that complains of discrimination by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

The jihadi group still controls Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

The Iraqi air force and US-led coalition jets have been pounding ISIL targets in support of ground troops.

This story was first published on CNN.com, “Iraqis say they’re trying to retake Ramadi’s center from ISIS”.

However, Iraqi forces have been heavily reliant on USA airstrikes as they slowly reclaim territory from the militants. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a predominantly Sunni Arab region that has been a stronghold for the militant Sunni group.

The group’s usual communications avenues had been conspicuously quiet in recent days, other than one site’s release of photographs claiming to show that areas of Ramadi were calm and still under the Islamic State group’s control.