Iraqi security forces enter the government complex in central Ramadi, 70 mileswest of Baghdad, Monday.
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Paris – French President Francois Hollande congratulated Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on his army’s liberation of Ramadi from Islamic State forces on Monday, saying it was “a major step” in the conflict.
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In May, ISIS fighters easily overran Ramadi when the much larger Iraqi forces fled, leaving behind a fortune in US military equipment.
Sunday weather: Chance of showers
About a foot of snow is expected above 5,500 feet and lesser amounts between 4,500 and 5,500 feet. 55 to 60 in the deserts. A second and stronger storm is expected on Tuesday , said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Belawi told The Associated Press that Abadi began his visit by meeting security and provincial officials for the latest updates.
Iraqi state TV was replaying Monday’s footage from Ramadi, showing troops, some waving Iraqi flags and others brandishing machine guns, chanting and dancing inside what it described as the government complex in central Ramadi.
Iraqi forces, though backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, had been slowed in Ramadi by explosives planted in streets and booby-trapped buildings by Islamic State fighters. Abadi said in a televised address Iraqi forces would deliver the “fatal and final blow” to ISIS in seizing Mosul. He said at its peak there were up to 1,000 IS fighters in Ramadi, and that only 150-250 remain.
However, U.S. defense officials said Monday’s victory was as important symbolically and politically as it was militarily.
Displaced Ramadi residents celebrate Tuesday after their city was liberated from ISIS.
“The continued progress of the Iraqi Security Forces in the fight to retake Ramadi is a testament to their courage and determination, and our shared commitment to push ISIL out of its safe-havens”, said the statement.
The Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” is far from dead but back-to-back losses in Syria and Iraq have turned a series of setbacks for the jihadists into a losing streak.
ISIS still controls the rest of Anbar province, however.
These are the first pictures taken inside the Iraqi city of Ramadi which has been liberated from the tyranny of Daesh.
IS could try another diversionary attack, but the Iraqi and Syrian forces are now better prepared and supported with air power from the US-led coalition.
Abadi later announced the visit himself on Twitter.
Secretary of State John Kerry commended Iraq’s government and military for their fight “to return the capital of Anbar province back to the Iraqi people”. The capture of Ramadi would be a major victory for Iraqi troops, but would also test the government’s ability to bridge the country’s sectarian divide.
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The most hard political objective would be reconciling “the role local Sunni tribal militias who oppose the IS with the role of Shia militia forces, who are also very eager to participate in the operation to liberate Mosul from the IS but have a very different vision for how the city and Iraq as a whole will be governed after that operation is completed”, he adds.
