U.S. vows to take back Ramadi
Iranian-backed Shiite militias mobilized Monday to try to retake the key Iraqi city of Ramadi after it fell to Islamic State militants over the weekend.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz called the capture of Ramadi a “setback,” and the United States vowed to help Iraq reclaim it with continued airstrikes and military advice. “We will retake Ramadi,” said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
The fall of largely Sunni Rama- di is a stunning defeat for Iraq’s military, which largely retreated Sunday in the government’s biggest loss since last summer, when the Islamic State took control of Tikrit and Mosul.
Iraq said its own security forces will mount a counteroffensive to reclaim Ramadi.
Gen. Hossein Dehghan, Iran’s defense minister, flew to Baghdad on a surprise visit for urgent talks with Iraqi leaders. Iran is a majority Shiite nation with close ties to Iraqi militias and provided help to the Iraqi military.
Since Friday, when the battle for Ramadi entered its final stages, “we estimate that 500 people have been killed, both civilians and military,” said Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the Anbar provincial government. Bodies, some of them charred, were left in the streets or tossed into the Euphrates River, said Naeem al- Gauoud, a leader from the Sunni tribes that fought against the Islamic State in Ramadi, the Associated Press said.
A number of militia groups called in their members.
“We are ready to send thousands of our mujahedin (holy warriors) to fight,” said Naeem al Aboudi, spokesman for the Asaieb Ahl al-Haq group. Kataib Hezbollah militia announced the highest alert for its members and canceled all leave while demanding everyone join the fight.