The operation to retake the city began last week with about 10,000 Iraqi troops, Sunni tribal fighters, and US airstrikes launching an offensive against ISIS, another name for the Islamic State group.
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USA military spokesman in Baghdad, Col. Steve Warren, congratulated the Iraqi forces in a statement early Monday, calling the clearance of the government center “a significant accomplishment”.
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State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through Ramadi’s streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. It was subsequently confirmed by the Pentagon.
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ISIS fighters have put up a tough fight in Ramadi, slowing down the advance of Iraqi forces.
The city, and others in Anbar province, was the scene of fierce battles between United States military troops and IS’s predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, during the years following the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The military and pro-government forces have slowly clawed back land, but the fight for Ramadi is the first major battle in which Iraq’s powerful Shiite militia groups have largely been excluded, because of concerns about their presence in the largely Sunni city. The U.S.-led coalition, which includes major European and Arab powers, has been waging an air campaign against Islamic State positions in both Iraq and Syria since mid-2014, when the fighters seized a third of Iraq’s territory.
Iraqi Security forces enter the heavy damaged downtown Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.
Al-Numani stressed the complex is under full control of the Iraqi forces with “no presence whatsoever of Daesh [ISIS] fighters” adding that some militants could still be hiding in “pockets that could exist here or there in the city”.
Liberation… security forces raise an Iraqi flag near the provincial council building in central Ramadi.
Success… ISIS fighters abandoned their last stronghold in Ramadi, bringing Iraqi federal forces within sight of their biggest victory. “The coalition has provided steadfast support to the Iraqi government to enable them to fight and win against ISIL”.
Ramadi was the first major city recaptured by the army itself, without relying on the militias, who were kept off the battlefield to avoid sectarian tension with the mainly Sunni population.
Other reports held that at least five members of Iraqi military were killed since Friday, when combat intensified.
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The Iraqi government has said the next target after Ramadi will be the northern city of Mosul, by far the largest population centre controlled by Islamic State in either Iraq or Syria.
