Iraq’s PM visits ‘liberated’ Ramadi after ISIL battle

Northwest of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, a mass grave of some 120 bodies was discovered, and in a nearby district, dozens of civilians were reportedly executed, according to Al Bawaba, a Jordanian news site.

Militants continued to hold out in several suburbs, and troops were trying to clear out vehicle bombs that had been planted on the city’s perimeter.

Some parts of the city will need to be nearly entirely rebuilt but Abadi’s government is cash-strapped and the challenge of preparing Ramadi for the return of its people is huge.

Allen predicted that an operation to take back Mosul could begin in months but said it is dependent on what al-Abadi wants to do.

Peshmerga forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, in November dislodged Islamic State from Sinjar, a town west of Mosul that is home to Iraq’s Yazidi minority who suffered at the hands of Islamic State when it overran the area in August 2014.

“There are other military sources that say this might be a bit unrealistic”, Alice says, “based on the fact that Fallujah and Mosul are heavily populated”, unlike Ramadi and other ISIS-controlled cities that have been retaken.

US troops were able to pacify Anbar and other Sunni areas starting in 2006 with the help of the Sahwa, or “awakening” movement – Sunni tribes and militias who allied with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq, the predecessor of the IS group.

In the video, Iraqi forces are shown moving into Ramadi with all guns blazing. Gen. Ahmed al-Belawi told The Associated Press that Abadi kicked off the visit by meeting security and provincial officials for the latest updates.

The U.S. military said it carried out at least 29 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in the past week; three airstrikes hit near Ramadi from Sunday into Monday, wounding 12 IS fighters. IS launched a number of small-scale attacks Tuesday. “The real test is can they (the Iraqi forces) hold onto” the city, he said.

Suspicion of Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government runs high in the Sunni city, whose residents felt abandoned by officials in Baghdad as Islamic State militants mounted their assault in May.

Authorities gave no immediate death toll from the battle for the city.

It is the first major success for the U.S.-trained force that fled in the face of the jihadist Islamic State militants’ surge through northern and western Iraq in June 2014.

“Coupled with other recent ISIL losses across Iraq and Syria… the seizure of the Government Center clearly demonstrates that the enemy is losing momentum as they steadily cede territory”, he said in a statement, using an acronym for the IS group.

Al-Belawi insisted that the Sunni fighters had returned and allied with his forces, helping them to advance.

Abadi’s government plans to hand over Ramadi to local police and a Sunni tribal force once it is secured, to encourage Sunnis to resist Islamic State.