Iraqi state television reported that Abadi was in Ramadi but offered no other details. “The prestige goes to the Iraqi military”, said political analyst Ihsan Al-Shammari.
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If the recapture of Ramadi is confirmed, it will be the first major city seized from IS by Iraq’s military, which in past battles against the militants had operated mainly in a supporting role alongside Iran-backed Shi’ite militias.
“We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal final blow to Daesh [Islamic State]”. Nineveh is home to Iraq’s second city of Mosul, from which IS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi proclaimed his “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria more than a year and a half ago.
Kurdish forces have also had success in clearing areas north and east of Mosul, yet have been careful not to move beyond their traditional territory.
“They have been driven out of cities across the country by Iraqi forces, with support from the United Kingdom and the global coalition”.
Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital, fell to IS in May, marking a major setback for Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led campaign.
Security officials have said the forces still need to clear some pockets of insurgents in the city and its outskirts.
“Ramadi has been liberated and the armed forces of the counter-terrorism service have raised the Iraqi flag above the government complex”, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool announced on state television. “ISIS will fight to the last bullet to hold onto Mosul”.
Militants took over Ramadi in May.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Iraqi forces for “displaying tremendous perseverance and courage”.
After months of preparation, Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes pushed into Ramadi’s center last week in a concerted effort to recapture the city. The US-led anti-IS coalition praised the performance of the Iraqi forces in retaking Ramadi, an operation in which it played a significant role, training local forces, arming them and carrying out what it said were 600 air strikes since July.
IS fighters have retreated from about 70 percent of city, but still control the rest and government forces still don’t fully control numerous districts from which the IS fighters have retreated.
One military commander told state TV that IS militants had booby-trapped many buildings and attacked his men with vehicle bombs. It is for both of these reasons-size of the city and the importance placed on it by ISIS-that the liberation of Mosul will provide the sternest test for all parties involved in the battle against the group, officials and experts say.
“We didn’t expect them to retreat from a number of Ramadi areas today, where we entered without any resistance, as if they evaporated”, he said.
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But Denselow warns that the fact that “a relatively small number of ISIS fighters have been able to fend off a much larger force for so long with such a large level of destruction is a worrying portent of things to come”.
