Iraqi Security forces with national flag enter downtown Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.
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Iraqi forces have tightened the noose around Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists making their last stand in the western city of Ramadi, officials said yesterday.
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A statement late Sunday from the Iraqi joint command said the operation in Anbar is going according to plans and that Iraqi forces continue to encircle the government complex in Ramadi.
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“We are congratulating the Iraqi security forces for their significant progress in Ramadi”, said Army Col. Chris Garver, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition-led against the Islamic State.
Although the full extent of the situation on the ground remains unclear, Agence France-Presse reported there had been celebrations on the streets of a number of Iraqi cities.
An RAF spokesman said armed reconnaissance missions by Tornado and Typhoon jets as well as drones had taken out targets including large groups of terrorists engaged with Iraqi government forces.
Ramadi, a predominantly Sunni Arab city west of Baghdad, fell to ISIS in May, a major setback in the country’s campaign to contain the terror group.
The capture of Ramadi by the Iraqi forces might be the biggest loss of Islamic State militants in 2015.
Nineveh is home to Iraq’s second city of Mosul, from which IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria more than a year and a half ago.
The complex was thought to have been the last holdout for a few dozen ISIS militia members who had tried to slow the Iraqi advance through the city with snipers and improvised explosive devices.
He said roadside bombs were strung together in “networks” that can take hours to defuse. He said that about 75 percent of central Ramadi was still under control of the militants, including neighborhoods such as Mallab, where civilians are still thought to remain.
Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to two million, would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents.
However, Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, said that troops had only retaken the complex itself, and parts of the city remained under ISIS control.
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“Our air coalition is proud to support fearless Iraqi troops as they defeat ISIL in Ramadi”, he tweeted, using an alternative acronym for the militant group.
