Iraqi army takes control of Ramadi
Recapturing the city is one of the most strategic strikes in the fight against IS
IRAQI forces yesterday took control of the government complex in central Ramadi, the last Islamic State (IS) stronghold in the western city, a military spokesman said. “By controlling the complex this means that they have been defeated in Ramadi,” said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side. “The next step is to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city.
“The complex is under our complete control, there is no presence whatsoever of Daesh fighters in the complex,” he told Reuters, using a derogatory Arabic acronym of IS.
Recapturing Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, is one of the most significant victories since IS swept across a third of the country last year.
Early yesterday the soldiers were within 300m of the provincial government compound, the target of the attack they launched on Tuesday, Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism force that is leading the fight on the government side, said.
“Booby-trapped houses and roadside bombs are all over the streets, they have to be cleared; air surveillance is helping to detect car bombs and suicide bombers before they get to us,” he said.
Ramadi is the capital of the mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province in the fertile Euphrates River valley, just two hours drive west of Baghdad.
The success of the offensive means it is the second main city to be retaken by the Iraqi government after Tikrit, in April.
Officials said it would be handed over to the local police and to a Sunni tribal force once secured.
Ramadi was IS’s biggest prize this year, abandoned by government forces in May in a major setback for Baghdad and for the Iraqi troops trained by the US since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Iraqi government forces are backed by air support from an international coalition led by the US.
Shia militias backed by Iran, which have played a major role in other offensives against IS, have been kept away by the Iraqi government from the battlefield in Ramadi to avoid sectarian tensions.
After Ramadi, the army plans to move to retake the northern city of Mosul, the biggest population centre under IS control in Iraq and Syria.
Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to two million, would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding. – Reuters
RAMADI WAS IS’S BIGGEST PRIZE THIS YEAR, ABANDONED BY GOVERNMENT FORCES IN MAY IN A MAJOR SETBACK FOR BAGHDAD