“The compound has been liberated”, said Suhaib al-Rawi, the governor of Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital. Gen. Ahmed al-Belawi told The Associated Press that the prime minister kicked off the visit by meeting security and provincial officials for the latest updates.
Advertisement
Saudi Arabia’s 2016 Budget Reflects Pinch From Lower Oil Revenues
Over the past year , oil prices dropped from triple digit highs in June 2014, to now .94 as of 7.10 GMT today. That’s less than half the per barrel priced into the projected 2015 budget.
Retaking Ramadi, a city 60 miles west of Baghdad, would have both strategic and symbolic importance: When it fell without a major battle, USA officials questioned the Iraqi army’s will to fight.
Brees reaches 60000 yards milestone in Saints loss
Robert Anderson) and is uncertain as to whether he will make a return either this season or at any point in the future. Brees ranks behind only Peyton Manning (71,871), Brett Favre (71,838) and Dan Marino (61,361) in career yards passing.
On Monday, Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, drove IS militants out of the city center and raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex there. Pockets of jihadists may remain, but the army said it no longer faced any resistance in the city and that its main task was to defuse countless bombs and traps.
Weeden runs for TD, throws 2 more as Texans rout Titans 34
Tennessee offered little resistance in absorbing its third straight loss and dropping to 2-14 at home over the last two years. The Tennessee Titans had no real answers for the Houston Texans on Sunday falling 34-6 in the home finale at Nissan Stadium.
“He is excited about this victory, because he managed to remove this blot from his historical record as commander-in-chief of the armed forces”, said Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based analyst who has worked with the Iraqi government.
In a televised statement, Iraqi military spokesman Brig.
“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.
“ISIS was defeated and hundreds of its criminal terrorists were killed” in Ramadi, Abadi said, according to Iraqi News.
“Ramadi is an example that the regular army wishes to promote for upcoming battles of liberation”, Hashimi said.
Such a strategy would echo the US military’s “surge” campaign of 2006-2007, which relied on recruiting and arming Sunni tribal fighters against a precursor of Islamic State.
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.
Col. Steve Warren, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, told AP that “today’s success is a proud moment for Iraq”.
Soldiers were shown on state television on Monday publicly slaughtering a sheep in an act of celebration.
“The clearance of the government center is a significant accomplishment and is the result of many months of hard work by the Iraqi army, the counterterrorism service, the Iraqi air force, local and federal police, and tribal fighters”, Warren said.
Iraq has not divulged any casualty figures for federal forces but medics said close to 100 government fighters were brought to Baghdad hospitals on Sunday alone.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who toured parts of Ramadi on Tuesday, had earlier hailed the advance, vowing that 2016 would be “the year of the final victory”, when IS would be driven from Iraq.
“In the main area of ISIS’s control this year – which is to say the parts of Iraq and Syria that they call their caliphate – they have lost some towns and some smaller cities, mainly on the edges of their territory”. It has declared a caliphate in the areas under its control and imposed a harsh and violent interpretation of Islamic law.
Advertisement
Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the head of the U.S. Central Command, congratulated Iraqi forces on the “important operational achievement”.
