Iraqi forces take key complex in Islamic State-held Ramadi

“The Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex”.

Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of Baghdad, had been Islamic State’s biggest prize of 2015, seized in May. Experts believe that the recapture of the government complex should lift the morale of Iraqi forces who were badly shaken after the fall of the city in May.

“The expulsion of ISIS (another name for Islamic State) by Iraqi security forces, supported by our global coalition, is a significant step forward in the campaign to defeat this barbaric group and restore Iraq’s territorial sovereignty”, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said.

“Daesh has planted more than 300 explosive devices on the roads and in the buildings of the government complex”, said Brigadier General Majid al-Fatlawi of the army’s 8th division. IS fighters have retreated from about 70 per cent of city, but still control the rest and government forces still don’t fully control numerous districts from which the IS fighters have retreated. Most military experts believe the progress had been slowed by snipers, booby traps and the militants destruction of bridges which led to the city center.

“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 Daesh on Iraqi soil and their final great defeat”.

Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman in Baghdad for the USA military told the AP that “today’s success is a proud moment for Iraq”. But military officials said insurgents were still holed up in various pockets of the city.

City in ruins Any victory could also be Pyrrhic, as months of bombing appear to have left much of Ramadi in ruins, analysts warned.

The government has said the next target after Ramadi will be the northern city of Mosul, by far the largest population centre controlled by Islamic State in either Iraq or Syria. The city, and others in Anbar province, was the scene of fierce battles between US military troops and the Islamic State group’s predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, during the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

“Coupled with other recent ISIL losses across Iraq and Syria, including at Tikrit, Bayji, al Hawl, the Tishrin Dam and Sinjar, the seizure of the government center clearly demonstrates that the enemy is losing momentum as they steadily cede territory”, said Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the U.S. Central Command commander.  American officials said the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces had carried out more than 630 air strikes in the area over the past six months and provided training and equipment. The Islamic State group has declared a self-styled caliphate on the territory it controls.

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