Mosul, 400km north of Baghdad, has been designated by the government as the next target for Iraq’s armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi, the first major success of the US-trained force that initially fled in the face of Daesh’s advance 18 months ago. But that didn’t stop Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi from visiting the shattered city and raising the national flag.
Advertisement
Officer Jason Van Dyke to Enter Plea
Mayor Rahm Emanuel “has essentially told everyone in the public, everyone in the City Council that my client actually murdered Mr. Both his attorney and McDonald’s family have previouslyu said they would like to see Van Dyke’s trial heard outside Cook County.
About 700 Islamic State fighters are suspected to be hiding in the center and eastern outskirts of Ramadi days after Iraqi forces claimed victory over the militants in the western city, the U.S.-led coalition said on Wednesday.
Iraqi army takes back half of ISIL-controlled territories
He estimates that more than half of the city’s buildings have been destroyed, including government offices, markets and houses. In Ramadi , meanwhile, Sunni tribal fighters are expected to begin operating in the city’s center to provide security.
But the high cost of liberating Ramadi raises questions about whether the same tactics can be brought to bear in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which remains under IS control, or other dense urban areas in Iraq and Syria, where IS militants live among civilians.
Surface Phone: Microsoft confirms it is working on breakthrough Windows mobile
The internet too, had been abuzz with speculations and rumors regarding the release of this device for quite a long time now. AT&T is the only carrier in the USA that is selling the Lumia 950 flagship from Microsoft.
In the months up until Monday’s seizure of the government center, Iraqi forces approached Ramadi systematically, much as USA forces had done in similar campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq’s government says most civilians fled Ramadi before its assault on the city.
Ramadi has been battered by IS explosives and U.S.-led air strikes targeting Islamic State militants since IS fighters overran the city in May. He estimated that ISF forces killed in action were “in the low double digits, if that”, while the number of ISIS fighters killed was in the hundreds.
When IS captured Ramadi earlier this year, the militants blew up the homes of members of the security forces, but even those demolitions did not compare with the destruction wrought by the U.S.-led warplanes, according to al-Belawi.
The Iraqis appear to have faced far less resistance than the us troops who conducted a similar operation in Ramadi in 2006.
The map posted by Colonel Steve Warren showed areas cleared by Iraqi security forces in green.
“2016 will be the year of the big and final victory, when [ISIL’s] presence in Iraq will be terminated”, Abadi said.
Baghdad has said Sunni Muslim tribal fighters will make up the main holding force in Ramadi, a role played in other areas taken from Islamic State by mainly Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim armed groups, but the latter were held back from Ramadi for fear of stoking sectarian tensions. Their progress had been slowed by explosives planted in streets and booby-trapped buildings.
Initial phases of an operation to take back Fallujah and Mosul – which have populations of more than 320,000 and 1 million, respectively – already are underway. Ramadi is a Sunni city and a Sunni force in the city is considered essential for long-term security.
Advertisement
“We have not seen this enemy able to mass any type of combat, any type of real combat power in any type of effort to really conduct a conservative counterattack”, Warren said.
