The US Department of Defense (DoD) has extended its support to the Iraqi Government to regain control of the city of Ramadi, Iraq, from ISIS.
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Islamic State captured Ramadi, a provincial capital just a short drive west of Baghdad, in May in its biggest conquest since previous year. The push placed Iraqi forces along the southwest edge of Ramadi in the Tamim neighborhood and north of the city, at the former Anbar operations command. Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, tells reporters at the Pentagon that despite these losses, IS defenders still hold much of central Ramadi.
Image: Defense Secretary Ash Carter testifies on the strategy to counter ISIS before the US Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington.
Iraqi forces cut the hardline group’s last supply line into Ramadi in November, surrounding the city and making it nearly impossible for the militants to send in reinforcements. Despite this, it took over six months for Iraqi troops to even successfully surround the city, and there is no timetable for retaking it.
Iraqi security forces inspect confiscated weapons that belonged to the Islamic State group fighters in Ramadi, Iraq, on December 10, 2015.
Iraqi Major General Ismail al-Mahlawi, the head of military operations in the western Anbar province, said yesterday that the lock was the last remaining bridge from the city center to the northwest.
Warren said Salah was “one of the most senior and experienced members” of the group’s financial network.
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“Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to coordinate funding within the organization”, Warren said.
