Baghdad’s forces have been fighting for months to close in around Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and took a large part of the key city on Tuesday.
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According to the Guardian, Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the United States army command in Baghdad, informed reporters on the Pentagon that round 600 to 1,000 ISIS fighters had been inside Ramadi.
Acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Adam Szubin, said some of Isis’ funds came from looting between $500m and $1bn from bank vaults captured in Iraq and Syria, and through extorting the local population.
Carter seemed to agree with a more open-ended authorization with no geographical limits, for instance, but hedged his answer as to not contradict his own statements in support of an authorization for new war powers that President Barack Obama has sent to Congress in February – one that included some limits on taking the fight to IS.
Al-Mahlawi, the Iraqi commander in Anbar, said coalition and Iraqi aircraft contributed significantly to the operation, opening “the way before we sent combat units in”.
“The liberation of Al-Tameem was very important and… enables other forces to advance toward the centre of the city of Ramadi”, said Sabah al-Noman, the spokesperson for Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces.
Sen. John McCain (left), R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, listens with ranking member Sen.
“The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi army with additional unique capabilities to help them finish the job, including attack helicopters and accompanying advisers”, Carter said.
Democrats were mostly supportive of the administration’s strategy, but some challenged Carter in one aspect: why the administration hadn’t tried to establish a humanitarian no-fly zone – an undertaking both Carter and Selva said wasn’t worth the cost of risking confrontation with Syrian air forces or their Russian allies.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter still described the Iraqi offensive as “disappointingly slow” in separate comments today, saying he is certain the city will eventually fall, but once again talking up his offer of USA attack helicopters for the attack on the city.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to attack largely Arab Raqqa – that they and their success will build, so to speak, a snowball that accumulates more fighters as they go”, the defense chief said.
Iraqi security forces look at confiscated Islamic State group weapons and ammunition after regaining control over the last week, in Ramadi, Iraq’s Anbar province, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015.
Muhannad Haimour, the spokesman for the Anbar governor’s office, said he received reports from residents still inside Ramadi that IS was also destroying buildings and radio towers. “So in the end, while we can enable them, we cannot substitute for them”, Carter said.
“It is the poorest and most vulnerable who are trapped because they did not have the means to leave earlier”, UNHCR representative Bruno Geddo told VOA via telephone from Baghdad.
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Warren additionally introduced that the USA airstrikes in late November killed three senior ISIS leaders, together with Abu Salah, who was allegedly the group’s monetary minister.
