Retaking of Ramadi ‘a symbolic victory for Iraq’

Iraqi security forces place the Iraqi flag above the Islamic State group flag as they pose for a picture on December 28, 2015.

Engineering teams were still working to clear explosive devices in the area, but the complex was entirely under the control of Iraqi forces, military commanders said. “We still have to liberate Mosul”.

The Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” is far from dead but back-to-back losses in Syria and Iraq have turned a series of setbacks for the jihadists into a losing streak. Some can be seen slaughtering sheep in celebration near heavily damaged buildings.

The Mobilisation, known in Arabic as Hashid Shaabi, is a loosely knit coalition of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias set up to fight Islamic State.

“The fight for Ramadi demonstrates how capable, motivated local forces backed by coalition air support and training can defeat ISIL”, Carter said in a statement.

Since then, the battle against the group in both Syria and Iraq has drawn in most global and regional powers, often with competing allies on the ground in complex multi-sided civil wars.

Secretary of State John Kerry said “the Iraqi military is fighting with determination, courage, and skill to dislodge the enemy and bring closer the day when the city can be returned to the families who have fled the terror of ISIL”.

Such a strategy would echo the US military’s “surge” campaign of 2006-2007, which relied on recruiting and arming Sunni tribal fighter against a precursor of Islamic State. The city fell to ISIS in May in an embarrassing defeat for the Iraqi military.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated the fighters who retook Ramadi, vowing to liberate the second city of Mosul and rid the entire country of IS in 2016.

Iraqi government troops captured Ramadi’s government compound on Sunday, flushing out or killing IS fighters and suicide bombers who had been holding out in its buildings.

Security sources said Abadi had arrived by helicopter at the Anbar University complex in Ramadi’s southern outskirts and would meet with commanders from Iraq’s army and counter-terrorism forces, which spearheaded the offensive.

CBS News national security analyst Juan Zarate says the Iraqi troops are better trained and enabled – in part through US and coalition partnership – but they also have shown newfound will and capacity.

Middle East press reaction to the retaking of Ramadi ranges from hope that this development marks a turning point in the struggle against IS to reminders that the group has yet to be dislodged from other parts of the country. After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex today. It is important to point towards the fact that Ramada, the provincial capital of the sprawling Anbar province had fallen to ISIS militants in May, early this year.