Iraqi Military Reclaims Ramadi from ISIS After Months-Long Siege

But Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, quickly clarified that Iraqi forces had only retaken the government complex and that parts of the city remained under IS control.

“If 2015 was a year of liberation, 2016 will be the year of great victories, terminating the presence of Daesh (IS) in Iraq and Mesopotamia”, he said in a televised address.

Less than a decade ago, Ramadi, along with other cities in the Anbar province, saw heavy fighting between U.S. troops and an Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State group’s predecessor, after the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

It was not clear whether Mosul would be the next battle or whether Iraqi forces would seek to retake other towns and cities first.

When ISIS militants took over the Iraqi Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi in May 2014, Iraq’s armed forces fled in humiliation, leaving weapons behind.

Many reports have emerged from territory under IS control of extensive human rights abuses, including crucifixions and executions for even the slightest violation of Islamic teaching.

Even with the Ramadi capture, Iraqi security forces will be battling ISIS for the foreseeable future.

Iraqi military leaders announced today Iraqi Security Forces seized the Government Center in Ramadi from Da’esh (the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State).

“We will continue to support the Government of Iraq as it re-establishes the security, governance and services the people of Ramadi will need as they return to their city”, Hammond noted.

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

Mr Bassem Eid Ammash, a spokesman for the Anbar provincial council, said troops had been careful about entering the government complex, to minimise losses.

Monday’s recapture of the government complex is certainly likely to lift the morale of Iraqi forces, who were badly shaken by the city’s fall in May, which came despite months of U.S.-led airstrikes and advances against IS elsewhere in the country. “It will not be an easy operation, for some time they have been strengthening themselves, but it’s doable”.

But more importantly, the recapture of Ramadi helps to redeem a military that was once disorganized and reluctant to confront IS. The government says most civilians were able to evacuate before it launched its assault.

In this Friday, Dec. 25, 2015 photo, smoke rises from Islamic State positions following a U.S.-led coalition airstrike as Iraqi ssecurity forces advance their position in downtown Ramadi.

Abadi’s government plans to hand over Ramadi to local police and a Sunni tribal force once it is secured, to encourage Sunnis to resist Islamic State.