Iraq claims liberation of Ramadi from ISIS is a major gain

#ISIS #ramadi #Iraqiforces #Tikrit The Iraq army has claimed that it has captured the key city of Ramadi and see this as a major victory against Islamic State but, a US defense official has said it has, so far, not been able to to confirm the Iraqis' claims. If confirmed, then the capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, would be a big blow to ISIS since it will deprive IS militants of their biggest prize of 2015.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 28 December 2015.

The Iraqi army had encircled the city for weeks and made the final thrust to seize the central administration complex on Sunday. Iraq's counter-terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag above the complex on Monday and the joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool has said, in a statement broadcast on state television, that Ramadi has been liberated.
It may be recalled that the Iraqi army had already retaken the city of Tikrit from the jihadists in the spring. The final stronghold for IS in Iraq is Mosul in the north which could be the next target of the government. The number of people killed in this battle have not been disclosed but, the government has said that most civilians had been evacuated before it launched its assault.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Iraqi forces trying to take over the city of Ramadi, a stronghold of the ISIS

#ISIS #ramadi #Baghdad #suicidebomber The city of Ramadi, located 90-Km from Baghdad, had fallen to ISIS in May in an embarrassing defeat for the Iraqi army and the Iraqi government forces are now trying to retake it. The forces are advancing into the center of the city which is under control of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
This has been reported in bbc.com 22 December 2015.

As per information, troops and allied tribesmen, backed by air strikes, had already retaken two districts, and entered two others and are believed to be heading towards the main government complex. They had to face snipers and suicide bombers.
The strategy worked. Last month, government forces completed their encirclement of the predominantly Sunni Arab city and cut off the militants inside the center from their strongholds elsewhere in Anbar province and in neighboring Syria. Moreover, engineers had built temporary bridges over the River Euphrates, which flows along the north and west of the city center and that helped the troops to enter directly into the al-Haouz district, south-west of the government complex.
The counter-terrorism forces did not face any strong resistance except snipers and suicide bombers and that was expected.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Iraqi city of Ramadi falls to Islamic State, troops abandon weapons and flee

#ramadi #ISIS #Iraq #johnkerry The Iraqi city of Ramadi has fallen to the Islamic State following days of intense fighting and bombings by the terror group and Iraqi troops have abandoned their weapons and have fled the scene. Black flags have been raised over local government headquarters.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 18 May 2015.
Spokesman for the governor of Anbar province has confirmed that Ramadi has fallen … the military is fleeing. The provincial command center in the city had fallen into the hands of the ISIS – this has been informed by a colonel who is among troops who had withdrawn.

However, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has issued orders for the government forces to "hold their positions" and has called on troops, tribesmen and other elite forces to push the militants out of Ramadi.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is on an official visit to South Korea. He has said that he was confident the loss of Ramadi would be reversed and also re-iterated his warning that the fight against IS would be a long one.
The number of casualties is continuously on the increase and approximately 500 people - militants and civilians - have been killed in Ramadi in the last two days. Moreover, around 8,000 have fled as IS launched a fierce offensive of suicide car bomb attacks.
It has also been reported that 15 Iraqi troops and police died on Sunday in four near-simultaneous car bombings. AS a result, the soldiers retreated leaving behind their vehicles and weapons.
(Image courtesy wikimedia.org)

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