The militants seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, in May, extending its control over the Euphrates valley west of Baghdad and handing the Iraqi army its worst defeat since June 2014 when Islamic State swept through northern Iraq.
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“In terms of the Iraqis around Ramadi, again, we’ve seen them taking their positions and – and preparing for seizure operations, but in terms of why they have not moved, that’s a question that we’re discussing with Iraqis, again, encouraging them to move as quickly as possible, to move in on ISIL and take the city”, CENTCOM Spokesperson Col. Pat Ryder told reporters in the Pentagon. “They have pushed terrorists (back)… and forced them to go back up north towards Mosul”, said Jaafari, who is in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Though officials continue to talk about vague “progress” or “winning” in the Iraqi war against ISIS, there is very little in the way of positive evidence on offer, and a lot of efforts to shift the blame around for not winning a war which all officials were insisting was going to be relatively quick. So the standoff drags on even as the US prepares to makeover its approach to countering Islamic State militants in Syria and congressional Republicans cite Ramadi as evidence of a failed American strategy.
“The frequency of the air force campaign fluctuates and I hope it will get higher frequency in the future”, Jaafari said.
The U.S.-led coalition targeting the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq has carried out 22 new air strikes in the past 24 hours.
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The Iraqi military, plagued by corruption, almost collapsed twice in the past year despite more than $20 billion in USA training. Western states assume it is increasing its military presence to help its embattled ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, tackle IS offensives.
