Seems to be good news
A senior politician says Iraqi forces are likely to retake Ramadi
from Islamic of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters within “three or
four days”, as fierce fighting for the key city continued.
Jaber Al Jaberi, an MP from Anbar province, told Al Jazeera that
while the progress of Iraqi forces has been slow, it has been “well
organised” between the counterterrorism forces, comprising Iraqi army
soldiers, tribal fighters and local police.
“There is a big fight now in the downtown of Ramadi,” Jaberi said on
Wednesday afternoon, after Iraqi intelligence estimated that only 300
ISIL fighters were left in the city.
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“[Iraqi forces] are fighting in this moment to retake the government
building in the centre of Ramadi … We hope in three or four days,
maybe, Ramadi will be liberated from [ISIL].”
Military sources told Al Jazeera that Iraqi counterterrorism forces
were on Wednesday preparing to storm the Hauz section of Ramadi – the
southern entrance to the centre of the city.
The Hauz section is considered strategically important because it is
adjacent to the local government buildings, include the provincial
council building and the Anbar provincial police headquarters.
Air strikes from a US-led coalition struck areas close to the centre
of Ramadi on Wednesday, killing at least 20 ISIL fighters, military
sources said.
Ramadi, about 120km from the capital Baghdad, was captured by ISIL in
May, but Iraqi forces have since managed to claw back some territory.
A counterattack by government forces on the centre of the Ramadi began in earnest on Tuesday.
Ramadi’s fall was the government’s biggest setback since ISIL
fighters swept through areas in the country’s north and west – including
Iraq’s second-biggest city of Mosul – in the summer of 2014.
As fighting continued close to the centre of the city, ISIL fighters
took their fight to government forces stationed outside Ramadi on
Wednesday morning.
