Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province with a predominantly Sunni population which has been traditional stronghold of IS ideology and probably was the most significant Iraqi city under IS control, after IS capital Raqqa which falls in Syria.
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“Ramadi was a test of whether the Iraqi security forces were willing to fight” after their 2014 collapse in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and later in Ramadi, a senior Obama administration official said.
The Islamic State (IS) militant group, which controls swathes of Iraq’s north and west, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted on the Internet by supporters.
“The bodies of the Islamic State fighters had been absolutely pulverised”.
Iraqi troops retook the city center on Monday with heavy coalition air support, but insurgents are still holed up in parts of the city. To prevent the return of ISIS to Ramadi, the Iraqi government must act fast, but not with haste. The Iraqi troops recaptured the Iraqi city last week, after it had been held by IS forces for the past 18 months.
A squadron of the elite British troops has been assigned to battling Isil in Syria and Iraq. Following seven months in enemy hands since being taken in May, this marks a major military victory for the Iraqi government, which had previously seen little success in regaining captured territory. The global community must continue its efforts against the Islamic State and learn from the experiences of these past few weeks.
Militants of the Islamic State were also able to cut off a main supply line for the Iraqi army in central Ramadi on Friday, after taking over the Artillery Brigade’s military base near the Bouathia district.
Iraq is gripped by a sectarian divide between its Shiite majority and its Sunni minority.
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A key part of the strategy for the government is to put Ramadi in the hands of local Sunni tribal figures, an echo of the 2006-2007 “surge” campaign by USA forces at the height of the 2003-2011 US war in Iraq, in which Washington secured the help of Sunni tribes against a precursor of Islamic State.
