Iraqi forces retake ISIS stronghold in Ramadi

Iraq's army has said it has defeated fighters from the so-called Islamic State group in Ramadi.

The victory in the provincial capital west of Baghdad is the first major victory for the US-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.

The victory deprives IS of their biggest prize of 2015.The fighters captured the city in May after government troops fled, a defeat which prompted the United States to reassess the strategy against the militants.

After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday.

"By controlling the complex this means that we have defeated them in Ramadi," a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side said.

"The next step is to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city."

State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses.

Some districts appeared to have been completely destroyed by the advance.

Television also showed nighttime celebrations in mainly Shia cities south of Baghdad with people dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from cars.

Officials did not give any immediate death tolls for the battle. The government says most civilian residents of the city were able to evacuate before it launched its assault.

IS, also known by the acronyms ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, swept through a third of Iraq in June 2014 and declared a "caliphate" to rule over all Muslims from territory in both Iraq and Syria, carrying out mass killings and imposing a strict form of Islam.

Since then, the battle against the group in both countries has drawn in most global and regional powers, often with competing allies on the ground in complex multi-sided civil wars.

A US-led coalition has been waging an air campaign against the fighters in both countries, but rebuilding the Iraqi army to the point that it was capable of recapturing and holding territory has been one of the biggest challenges.

In previous battles, including the recapture of former dictator Saddam Hussein's home city Tirkit in April, the Iraqi government relied on Iran-backed Shia militias for ground fighting, with its own army in a supporting role.

• Ramadi was recaptured by the army itself, without relying on the militias, who were kept off the battlefield to avoid sectarian tensions with the mainly Sunni population.

"The complex is under our complete control, there is no presence whatsoever of Daesh fighters in the complex," a spokesman told Reuters.

The government said the next target after Ramadi will be the northern city of Mosul, by far the largest population centre controlled by IS in either Iraq or Syria.

"The smooth victory in Ramadi should be happy news for the residents of Mosul," the spokesman said.

US officials had hoped Baghdad would launch an assault on Mosul during 2015, but this was put off after the fighters swept into Ramadi.

Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to 2 million, would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents
  rte.ie
27/12/15
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