Those forces began a concerted effort on Tuesday to recapture Ramadi, an important city about 60 miles from Baghdad that Islamic State fighters overran last May.
Advertisement
England seamer Anderson ruled out of first Test
Dale Steyn who is declared fit could make a comeback into the team, his tally against England is an impressive 45 wickets. Alex Hales, who will win his first cap on Saturday, is the latest to try to win a long-term place.
Tuesday’s ground offensive started at dawn, when Iraqi forces crossed an improvised pontoon bridge over the Euphrates River into a southern neighborhood and surprised militant fighters, said Sabah al-Numani, spokesman of the government’s counterterrorism forces.
Brits thrilled as three new astronauts blast off to the ISS
A rocket carrying Britain’s first astronaut Major Tim Peake is on route to the International Space station. Lift off occurred from the same launch pad where, in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating due to the appearance of Islamic State groups there. But some in the city have said that Islamic State continues to hold civilian families as hostages. “The plan is to replace Turkish oil with locally produced oil and oil from other countries”, he said, without indicating the reason for replacing Turkey with other suppliers.
Packers secure seventh straight playoff berth, then beat Raiders
It’s fun to score a bunch of points and put up a bunch of yards, but everyone is fighting to get to the playoffs right now. Only this time, it wasn’t a one-time backup in Brock Osweiler who was charged with reviving a championship contender.
The drive to recapture Ramadi – involving Iraqi troops, police, militias, and USA air support – seems to be going well so far.
Iraqi forces reported progress on several fronts. “In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 18 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using rocket artillery and attack, fighter, and bomber aircraft against Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State targets”. Analysts do, however, forecast that the recapture of Ramadi is likely to exacerbate tensions between Iraq’s central government and the strongly US / NATO-backed Kurdish administration of Barzani in northern Iraq.
The head of military operations said the Iraqi offensive is being hampered by suicide bombs, snipers and booby traps. After Iraqi forces pulled out of Ramadi in May, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter questioned whether the Iraqis had the “will to fight”. He lauded the government’s military campaign and looked ahead to the battle for Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which has been under Islamic State control since June 2014.
Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province, was Islamic State’s biggest prize of 2015, abandoned by government forces in May in a major setback for Baghdad that forced Washington to look hard at its strategy against the militants.
“I think the fall of Ramadi is inevitable”, Warren told Pentagon reporters.
Iraqi army officials gave a different account of the attack, saying the attackers were killed by police bullets or the detonation of their suicide vests before they could reach their target while only three members of the police were wounded.
Eight air strikes by the US-led coalition hit near the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul and unverified footage has emerged on social media purportedly showing the devastation in the city.
Ramadi has suffered extensive destruction in months of fighting and General Fadlawi said some of the booby-trapped houses had to be remote-detonated to avoid casualties among the ordinance experts.
Advertisement
They took full control of Ramadi after a wave of auto and truck bomb attacks and have since dug tunnels to be able to move around the city without exposure to daily raids. Operations to liberate Ramadi have been ongoing since November, but security officials are saying that troops and Sunni tribal fighters have regained control of several districts in the last 48 hours, and are now advancing on the city’s main government complex.
