Iraqi forces cut ISIS supply lines in Ramadi

IRBIL, Iraq — Iraqi forces backed by Iraniantrained militias and U.S. airtrikes have made significant progress in isolating Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province that Islamic State overran in May, according to Iraqi officials, local residents and Western military advisers. But it is uncertain that the city will soon be retaken. Iraqi officials repeatedly have expressed optimism about progress against Islamic State, only to be unable to defeat the extremists, especially in areas such as Ramadi where Sunni Muslims are in the majority and have little trust in the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

“We have now cut the last supply line of Daesh connecting Ramadi to Syria,” said an Iraqi officer who works in the Anbar command center but lacks authorization to speak publicly. “Iraqi forces can now strangle the terrorists inside the city and we should see victory in a few days.”

Daesh is an Arabic term for Islamic State, which also is known as ISIS and ISIL.

A Western military adviser to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish Regional Government who has been briefed on the situation by his country’s trainers working to rebuild the Iraqi military agreed that the progress to isolate Ramadi was a legitimate achievement. But he cautioned that much harder work is to come as Iraqi military units face fighting in a city of nearly 1 million people that remains populated.

“Iraqi forces have struggled in urban operations, and Ramadi will be tough once they enter the city itself,” he said on the condition of anonymity. He said the Iraqi government’s success in recapturing Tikrit in the spring was unlikely to prove precedent for the push to take Ramadi.