Iraq defence minister predicts Ramadi victory by year's end

Iraqi security forces will have fully retaken Ramadi by the end of the year, said the Iraqi defence minister, amidst estimates that only around 300 extremists remain in the city.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

19 December, 2015

Iraqi security forces have begun conducting clearing operations in Ramadi [AFP]

Iraq's defence minister predicted Saturday that security forces backed by US-led coalition airstrikes would retake full control of the city of Ramadi by the end of the year.

"I met with the Joint Operations Command and they confirmed to me that we will regain all of the city of Ramadi by the end of this month," Khaled al-Obeidi told reporters in Baghdad.

Earlier this month, forces led by Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service retook al-Tamim, a southwestern neighbourhood of Ramadi from the Islamic State group.

IS took full control of Ramadi in mid-May, in what was Baghdad's most stinging defeat since it launched a counter-offensive to regain the large regions the extremists captured in the summer of 2014.

The offensive in al-Tamim this month marked a significant step in long-delayed efforts to recapture the city, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad and capital of the vast province of Anbar.

"The reason the battle took so long was to avoid casualties among our forces and also to avoid civilian casualties," Obeidi said. "There are still many civilians in the city."

Extremists still holed up in the city centre and using tunnels to avoid airstrikes may number no more than 300, according to military officials.

Obeidi said that the Islamic State group's control in the territory has fallen from 40 percent to 17 percent due the Iraqi forces' military operations in the region.

IS fighters attacking from northwest of Ramadi with suicide car bombs attempted to retake control of the key Palestine bridge in recent days but Iraqi forces still have the upper hand.

"The city of Ramadi has now been fully isolated, and the Iraqi security forces are beginning to conduct their clearing operations," the coalition's Baghdad-based spokesman, Steve Warren, told reporters on Friday.

He said that IS had been using the Euphrates river that runs through Ramadi to supply its fighters inside the city with men and military equipment.

Control of both sides of the river banks in key areas have significantly reduced the extremist organisation's ability to re-supply, Warren said.