It said its advisers were not on the ground in Ramadi but had provided training and equipment to Iraqi forces.
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Estimates for worldwide viewership of the Times Square celebration stand at more than 1 billion. They have been empowered to shut down the event at any time and evacuate the area if necessary.
Militants continued to hold out in several suburbs, and troops were trying to clear out auto bombs that had been planted on the city’s perimeter. As in Mosul, government forces retreated in disarray, provoking US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to publicly denounce the Iraqi Army for “a lack of will to fight”. Islamic State militants have drawn heavily on alienated Sunnis for support, but many Sunnis say they have been trapped between IS brutality and death threats from the government-backed Shi’ite militias.
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In back is finalist Miss USA Olivia Jordan. “I’m so sorry to say it”, she added. “I really couldn’t believe it, I was so upset”. She hesitated before walking up to center stage, where Gutierrez stood with her crown, bouquet and ” Miss Universe ” sash.
A military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool announced in a televised statement that Ramadi had been “fully liberated”.
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After the play, the referee picked up the flag and said there was no roughing the passer since McDowell hit Coker in the chest. The game within the game, Alabama coach Nick Saban again defeated his former assistant, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio.
However, Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahalawi, head of operations in Iraq’s western Anbar province, later told reporters that the militants still controlled parts of the city. In Iraq, 24 air strikes concentrated near Mosul and Ramadi struck bunkers, fighting positions and explosive devices among other targets, the statement said.
“Ramadi is an example that the regular army wishes to promote for upcoming battles of liberation”, said Hashimi.
The government has said the restrictions are in place to protect the capital from IS fighters infiltrating the city under the guise of being refugees.
Soldiers were shown on state television on Monday publicly slaughtering a sheep in an act of celebration.
Col. Steven Warren, the United States military spokesman in Baghdad, said he was confident that the Iraqis would be able to hold on to Ramadi. It was badly damaged in two offensives by USA forces against al Qaeda insurgents in 2004. “2016 will be the year of the big and final victory, when [ISIL’s] presence in Iraq will be terminated”, Abadi said.
“I’m not going to tell you when they’re going to push out there (towards Falluja) but they’re going to push them out of all of Iraq”.
The city has suffered “huge devastation”, al-Belawi said.
Even the USA military’s announcement that coalition airstrikes have killed 10 Islamic State leaders in the past month has done little to ease tensions around the globe. The Islamic State launched a number of small-scale attacks Tuesday.
Iraqi security forces fighting for control of the city said Islamic State extremists had been using the civilians as human shields.
Daesh, which is outlawed in Russian Federation and other countries, has seized large areas in Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate on the territories under its control.
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Ramadi and Fallujah, Sunni Arab cities where distrust of the Shiite-led government runs deep, were major bastions of the insurgency in the years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
