IBTimes: Iraq: The battle against Isis goes on in 'liberated' Ramadi, a city reduced to rubble
At the end of December 2015, the US and Iraq proudly announced they had recaptured the city of Ramadi from Islamic State (Isis/Daesh) fighters. However, nearly a month later, the city has not been fully liberated, with pockets of IS fighters still holed up in up to two-thirds of the city's neighbourhoods in the east and north.
Baghdad and Washington touted Ramadi as a major success for Iraq's US-backed army in its campaign against IS, but the scorched-earth battlefield tactics used by both sides mean the prize is a shattered ruin. The city – once home to half a million people – has been largely reduced to rubble.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The photo gallery from the above IBTimes post is a must see. On a side note .... no kidding .... Ramadi is No Model For Fighting ISIS (John Ford, National Interest)
More News On The Destruction Of Ramadi
A UN report finds that violence in Ramadi has damaged or destroyed more than 4,500 buildings -- AP
Iraqi city of Ramadi, once home to 500,000, lies in ruins -- Chicago Tribune
ISIS Battle Turns Ramadi into Ghost Town -- Asharq Al-Awsat
Ramadi civilians force Iraq to adjust fight against Islamic State -- Reuters
Iraqi forces rescue thousands from Ramadi after IS retreat -- NRT
Clearing Ramadi Progresses Despite Obstacles, Inherent Resolve Official Says -- US Department of Defense
Hat Tip Jay for this link.
5 comments:
"The photo gallery from the above IBTimes post is a must see. On a side note .... no kidding .... Ramadi is No Model For Fighting ISIS (John Ford, National Interest)"
Maybe the Shia don't care if Sunni cities are devastated.
No sooner than we left Iraq and the most important Sunni leader in government had an arrest warrant out for him.
We don't need allies like that,
Sunni leaders sided with us and were assassinated. Their replacements were assassinated. And yet another leader step forward. On the other side we had Sadr and his obese nonsense.
If there are no Sunni in Iraq, we do not Iraqi allies.
Ramadi was 90% Sunni, predominantly Dulaimi,
"Exclusive: Ali Hatem Suleimani tells Telegraph he will not break his military alliance with Isis to help form a united Sunni-Shia government while Nouri al-Maliki remains Iraqi prime minister
The leader of Iraq’s biggest tribe has refused to break his military alliance with the Islamist extremist group, Isis, saying he will march a hundred thousand men on Baghdad if Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, does not step down."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10934438/We-will-stand-by-Isis-until-Maliki-steps-down-says-leader-of-Iraqs-biggest-tribe.html
"Suleiman has also been involved in the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, and he claims that ISIS only constitutes 5-7% of the anti-government forces. He claims that the majority of fighters are from Iraq's Sunni tribes. "
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Hatem_al-Suleiman
"
“There are some parts of the Sunni tribes, or certain members, that actually fought with ISIS,” said Sheik Aref Mukhbar Sayed Alwany, a Sunni tribal leader in Ramadi. “Others provided the group with moral and logistical support.” Alwany said the Sunni tribal leaders funneled cash to ISIS militants to help the group maintain its payments to volunteer fighters, and smuggled small arms, as well as ammunition, to the militants in Ramadi over the past four or five months."
http://www.ibtimes.com/sunni-tribesmen-helped-isis-take-control-ramadi-leaders-say-1934441
This US support for ISIS and Sunnis came from the US realization that Operation Iraqi Freedom actually produced an Iran-allied Iraq, because Shia are in the majority in Iraq. Remember the purple fingers? Democracy at work. So now the US is trying to compensate by allying with the Saudis and Turks to create a new Sunni state. But Russia is onto it.
Destroyed cities comes naturally from war. It's nothing new. The US Air Force is accomplished at it.
“Others provided the group with moral and logistical support.”
Maybe the arrest warrant for Tariq al-Hashimi had something to do with the support for ISIS.
Maybe the fact that they had all mixed, mingled, swore eternal oaths and exchanged contact info written on underwear at Camp Bucca is why the same tribes that started the Iraqi Insurgency, returned to the Jihadi's side?
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