Militants, booby-trapped houses in Ramadi to delay civilians’ return

Fresh off a victory tour in the liberated city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi has pledged that the army and security forces will eject the Islamic State from Iraq in 2016.

Abadi’s Shi’ite-led government has said for months it would prove the rebuilt capability of the army by reversing militant gains in Anbar, a mainly Sunni, largely desert province stretching to the borders of Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

General Lloyd Austin, the head of U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, said that, together with other Islamic State losses in Iraq and Syria, “the seizure of the Government Center clearly demonstrates that the enemy is losing momentum as they steadily cede territory”.

But while the airstrikes eventually helped flush out the militants, they smashed large parts of the city into rubble. It will be harder to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which the Islamic State seized in June 2014, stunning the world with its military strength.

Numerous buildings that have been destroyed in the current efforts to retake Ramadi were only rebuilt in the last seven years, after being reduced to rubble during the United States occupation of Iraq.

The seizure of the government compound in Ramadi followed a week of intense fighting as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s forces pressed into the center of the heavily defended city after seizing ground on the periphery.

But we can safely say that the news that the Iraqi flag is once again flying over the city of Ramadi is a major piece of good news, at least, if not a milestone in what still promises to be a long conflict.

Fantappie said any attempt to retake Falluja could face local resistance because of a deal struck more than two years ago between the jihadis and the city’s tribal and urban elements.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Belawi told The Associated Press that IS militants stopped firing from inside the government complex at around 8 a.m. Monday and said troops were encircling it as engineering teams cleared booby traps.

Islamic State (or ISIL) fighters had withdrawn to the outskirts of the city, officials said, and the military was in mop-up operations.

A map posted online by the spokesman for the US-led coalition against Islamic State suggested that, despite al-Abadi’s declaration of victory, there was some way still to go before the city was fully secured.

Al-Belawi insisted that the Sunni fighters had returned and allied with his forces, helping them to advance.

“Ramadi is an example that the regular army wishes to promote for upcoming battles of liberation”, said Hashimi. A number of armed militia operate in the remote area.