Iraqi forces storm Ramadi center, predict victory within days

[webfact]

Iraqi forces storm Ramadi center, predict victory within days



RAMADI: -- Iraqi armed forces stormed the center of Ramadi Tuesday as their bid to dislodge Islamic State militants continues.

Some 300 militants remain in their city center stronghold but an army spokesperson said the battle would be won within a matter of days.

The militants, who are also known as ISIL, overran Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, in May. Just 100 kilometers west of Baghdad, Iraqi forces began the offensive to retake the city in November.

But progress has been slow as the government was reluctant to use Shi’ite militia in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province in case it would fan sectarian tensions.

Tuesday’s operation began at dawn when Iraqi troops crossed the Euphrates river into Ramadi’s central districts. They faced snipers and suicide bombers as their made the crossing but were supported by US-led airstrikes.

If the attack to capture Ramadi succeeds, it will be the second major Iraqi city after Tikrit to be retaken from ISIL. The city of Mosul remains under the control of the militants.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-12-23

[Steely Dan]

Many may have dismissed or scoffed at Saudi Arabia announcing a coalition to fight ISIS, but whatever the motivation I believe this is a decisive factor meaning ISIS are no longer battling other militias but are battling the special forces of various nations. How the smoke clears in the end is uncertain but ISIS will be routed very quickly from here on in. All imho.

P.s the clowns who dropped their weapons in the face of much smaller ISIS forces are not the ones doing the heavy lifting here, not that the o.p makes this clear.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Steely Dan

[Seastallion]

Lets hope you're right, SD. I think you are.

[FourAces]

Guns for Oil,Oil for Gold that's all it amounts to and that's all it will ever amount to.

[Mr Moo]

Lets all hope that the Iraq's don't do what George Bush Senior did (failed to kill all the retreating enemy at the time).