Meanwhile, a wave of attacks across Iraq killed at least 15 civilians on Wednesday.
Advertisement
United States defense chief meets Iraqi leaders over IS fight
Kurdish forces last month retook the town of Sinjar from Islamic State, cutting the main road between Mosul and Raqqa. Details of the plan have not been disclosed, and US officials haven’t said when they may deploy to Iraq.
The city, located about 100 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad was seized by ISIL brigades in May 2015 after ISIL launched a major campaign in 2014, seizing the city of Mosul.
Saints QB Drew Brees sustains torn plantar fascia, season in doubt
Let’s check out some of the notable players and stats from the game so we can determine why things played out the way they did. The Saints asserted that Kelemete reported on the play before he was flagged and should not have had to report again.
When Iraqi forces began pressing towards the city centre last Wednesday, Tornados destroyed what the Ministry of Defence called “two terrorist-held buildings”, along with heavy machine-gun positions, a “sniper team” and a “group of terrorist fighters”.
High street shops to experience busiest day in run up to Christmas
Harki Sandhu said she left most of her shopping for a few days leading up to Christmas, but that’s how she usually does it. A retail survey says nearly 90 percent of us still have some holiday shopping to do.
Taken together, the statements were the first assertion by the militant group that it had inflicted serious damage on Iraqi military forces engaged in the Ramadi siege.
The ultimate aim for the government is to drive ISIL from Mosul, Iraq’s largest northern city, and Fallujah, which lies between Ramadi and Baghdad, as well as large areas of Syria – the core of what it has declared to be its caliphate.
The operation to liberate the city center of Ramadi started on Monday and Iraqi officials are confident that the Iraqi forces will regain control of the city center by the end of this week.
“Michael Pregent, who became an expert on Shiite militias while imbedded as an adviser with the Iraqi army in 2005 and 2006, has been posting acidic comments and photos on Twitter of Shiite militia leaders who he says are in Ramadi”.
Improvised explosive devices kill troops in city’s south, as combined forces push to liberate key Iraqi city from ISIL.
Nevertheless, Islamic State has made some high-profile gains, such as the historic Syrian town of Palmyra and the city centre of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province. The Iraqi military dropped leaflets on the city last week, imploring civilians to leave, but the Islamic State has prevented them from doing so, while fleeing families risk crossing an active war zone.
The next day, after military engineers installed a floating bridge over the Warar River, Iraqi forces, including anti-terrorism units, advanced to the centre of Ramadi.
If captured, it will be the second major city after Tikrit to be retaken from Islamic State in Iraq.
US intelligence assessments estimate that up to 350 Islamic State fighters remain in central Ramadi where they are squaring off against a greater number of government-aligned forcesnumbering almost 10,000, coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Tuesday.
He said thousands of civilians were still inside Ramadi, some of them used as human shields by Isis.
Many commanders blamed a lack of United States air support for the city’s fall in May, when a multipronged vehicle bomb attack caused the collapse of the troops that had withstood Isis attacks for a year and a half.
Advertisement
He added that the liberation of Ramadi is closer than ever, because “our forces have foiled ISIS plots, despite the numerous suicide bombers and booby traps laid before us”. It also demolished the Anbar operations command and fanned out into the city’s residential areas to set up less conspicuous centers of command.
