Rudaw: Iraqi army says Ramadi cleared of all ISIS remnants
BAGHDAD—The Iraqi army announced on Tuesday that it has regained full control of the city of Ramadi in western Iraq after weeks of battling remnants of Islamic State militants.
An army statement said that counterterrorism forces, local police and Shiite militia took part in several operations to drive ISIS militants from three main quarters of the city and surrounding areas among them Sajariyya, Jubiyya and Hasibah.
The militants had remained in the city and fought the Iraqi security forces after it was declared free from the extremist group at the end of December.
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More News On Iraqi Claims That They Have Finally Liberated All of Ramadi From The Islamic State
Iraq says it fully recaptured Ramadi from ISIS -- AP
Iraq: Troops Have Fully Recaptured Ramadi -- VOA
Iraq fully liberates city of Ramadi from Islamic State, government says -- Chicago Tribune
Iraqi forces make gains against Islamic State east of Ramadi -- Reuters
Iraqi Military Finishes Clearing Ramadi as Coalition Weighs Changes -- Foreign Policy
Iraq's Ramadi retaken, but rebuilding it a huge task -- AFP
Iraqi Forces Liberate Eastern Part of Ramadi From Daesh -- Sputnik
Iraq military advance reopens Ramadi-Baghdad road -- Middle East Online
3 comments:
The video above: except for the first and last Hummer, none of these vehicles have any usage marks on them. All the troopies wear brand new issue. Most of them are more concerned on where they are stepping than their surroundings. Also some of them are carrying flags in their rucks rolled for easy deployment. Again with the exception of the Hummer at the very beginning you see troops who have just been turned out of some sort of basic training.
Laszlo,
It does look like they've secured Ramadi. If they can take and secure at least one avenue of approach to Mosul I will definitely have to change my opinion.
James:
I still say Mosul is not a real target for the near future, and Iraqian forces do not even try to create this illusion. Iraqian forces recently advanced toward east from Ramadi, on the south side of the river, and I expect them to try to cut the supply lines to Falujah, thats make the most sense now. However for this, they need to control both side of the river, which sound easy, but it's not really is. Other than that I see some chance to an operation toward the town of Hit, but I do not know what is the Iraqian strategie. At least you see the light James, I'm happy with that.
Laszlo,
Hit and Falujah make a lot more sense for the Iraqi's. Regardless of what we saw of US trained troops in Ramadi, the back bone of Iraqi military forces (and politics for that matter) remain in it's Shia militias which have limited reach north and west of Baghdad.
With the Russians entering the Syrian arena and propping up the west end of the corridor, perhaps Iraq/Iran will be happy to consolidate their gains on the eastern end and play a waiting game with a "withering on the vine" strategy for ISIS. This becomes possible with Russia sealing off the Turkish border on their end and applying political pressure on Ankara.
The fact that ISIS can and does move into other theaters (North Africa and the Sub Sahara) probably doesn't concern them in the least as their focus is the Baghdad, Damascus, Mediterranean corridor.
The future has Putin continuing his squeeze of NATO through pressure on Turkey and Greece. The US will continue it's so called campaign through desultory bombing in Iraq (and a limited intervention in Libya) and making a few noises in the Ukraine.
We should see a larger Russian naval presence in the Eastern Med.
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