“Hamza was a former (al-Qaida in Iraq) member who we know planned and conducted attacks against Americans during Operation Iraqi Freedom”, Warren said in a video call to Pentagon reporters.
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Away from the capital, Iraq’s military is waging a counter-offensive against Islamic State, which seized around a third of the country’s territory in the north and west in 2014.
Major General Hadi Razij, head of Anbar police, said on Thursday elite commandos had attacked from the south while police, tribal fighters and the Iraqi army pushed from the north.
About 200 Islamic State fighters had been holding Rutba, but they put up scant resistance.
Warren said the USA -led coalition has trained 31,000 Iraqi security forces to date and 3,800 Iraqi soldiers are in training now, the most at one time. “I think they believe it will cause the Iraqi government to divert forces, divert effort, divert intellectual horsepower to solving those problems” as opposed to priorities like recapturing the IS stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq.
“They appear to have chosen to revert to some of their terrorist roots”, Warren said.
The strike was part of an ongoing US -led, anti-Islamic State air campaign across Iraq and Syria that began in August 2014.
Iraqi forces should continue to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) instead of consolidating forces in Baghdad to protect against an uptick of violence in the capitol city, a spokesman for the US military said Wednesday.
Votel said that he sees reason for “a little concern” surrounding internal Iraqi political instability over that last several weeks, The Associated Press reported.
Warren said that the military victory will deny ISIS “a critical support zone”.
“To compensate for their failures and by using the current political situation in Iraq, the terrorists would not waste any opportunity for taking revenge on the Iraqi nation, army and volunteer forces”, said Jaberi Ansari.
“If ISIS can again provoke that kind of sectarian blood-letting.it could cripple Abadi’s regime and splinter Iraq”, Blanche said.
“I don’t want to give the impression that I think they have given up on the notion of a caliphate or on an Islamic state”, he said.
“It’s important to make sure that we help keep Baghdad secure”, MacFarland said.
“Iraq’s security forces, backed by coalition military airpower and the advice and assistance of coalition militaries from around the world, has been effective in driving ISIL out of territory that they previously controlled”, Earnest said.
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“Fallujah will be before Mosul”, said Col. Firas Hussein Abed, a commander in the 6th Division who said additional Iraqi troops were deployed in the area. Some seem nearly as good as the officers in his own forces, he said.
