The fresh push was launched overnight and is aimed at fully recapturing Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s western province of Anbar.
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Local forces have made gains against the militant group elsewhere in Iraq in recent months.
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As the operation to retake the provincial capital progresses, Ramadi’s sizeable civilian population – estimated to be between 4,000 and 10,000 – remains mostly trapped inside the city.
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Iraqi forces announced a counter-offensive shortly after Mosul fell but progress has been sluggish and clawing territory back from IS has proven more hard than expected.
Spokesman Sabah al-Numan says the troops on Tuesday crossed the Euphrates River to reach downtown Ramadi. The assault to expel the terrorist group “Islamic State” (IS) from the city centre had been initiated, said a military spokesman in Baghdad.
Daesh militants have had plenty of time to dig in since they took full control of Ramadi on May 17 after blitzing government forces with wave after wave of auto and truck bomb attacks.
Those remaining did not appear to be giving up easily. Al-Numani also said the Iraqi Air Force was providing support. “It’s [a] ferocious fight, it’s premature to say how long it will take but we can say victory will be achieved in a few days”, Numani said. Those casualty numbers could not be independently confirmed.
Gutted… This image shows a bridge destroyed by ISIS to block Iraqi security forces from moving forward on the Euphrates river in Ramadi.
“Liberating it, I think, would be a blow to (IS’s) claims they can hold ground and act as a government, as a caliphate”, Warren said, referring to the cross-border state the jihadists declared previous year.
The operation may be slowed out of concern for civilians as ISIS was using residents as human shields Tuesday, two officials with the country’s Defense Ministry said without elaborating.
Iraqi forces were less than a half-mile away from the main government complex after advancing through four key areas of southern Ramadi, al-Nuaman said. The official added that the suburb of Bakir had been “completely devastated” from airstrikes and shelling.
However, they have lost several keys towns since government forces and fighters from the autonomous Kurdish region began anti-“Islamic State” operations.
The US has offered “advisers” and attack helicopters for the battle, but Iraq refused.
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The sectarian overtones are hard to avoid if Shia militias are fighting in the Anbar province, which is primarily Sunni.
