| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraqi forces deal blow to Daesh |
| 2015-12-12 |
| [ARABNEWS] Iraqi security forces have made advances on two fronts in the city of Ramadi, clearing Daesh [Islamic State] hard boyz from a key military command base and a sprawling neighborhood on its western edge, army officials said. Capture of the sprawling western Ramadi district of Al-Taamim and the Anbar Operations Command headquarters on Wednesday could advance government efforts to retake Ramadi which fell to Daesh [Islamic State] in May. "Army troops and counter-terrorism forces launched simultaneous offensives from the northern and western fronts and succeeded in making a striking advance," joint operations front man Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool told Rooters. The center of Ramadi remains under Daesh [Islamic State] control, but Rasool said the Death Eaters, which Iraqi intelligence estimates number between 250 and 300 fighters, are losing the initiative and suffering food and ammunition shortages after government forces cut their last supply line into the city last month. "We can hear their radio call we intercepted complaining about lack of food and ammunition," Rasool said. "It's quite clear they are desperate and collapsing." "Retaking Taamim after a striking offensive prevented gunnies from evacuating large stockpiles of ammunition which they left behind. It's a severe blow to their morale," said Sabah Al-Numani, front man for Iraqi counter-terrorism forces. Local officials and tribal leaders estimate between 1,200-1,700 families remain trapped inside the city by the Death Eaters. Besieged Daesh [Islamic State] Death Eaters, meanwhile, destroyed a lock on the Euphrates River that served as a bridge. Since Iraq's military launched its push on Ramadi earlier this month, the hard boyz had destroyed all other bridges leading into the city, both on the Euphrates and its tributary, the Warar River. Iraqi Maj Gen. Ismail Al-Mahlawi, the head of military operations in the western Anbar province, said the lock destroyed Wednesday was the last remaining bridge from the city center to the northwest. "Daesh [Islamic State] forces trying to stop our progress bombed the last bridge which connects the city center," he said. The locks' destruction leaves some 300 Daesh [Islamic State] fighters trapped in the center of the city, he added. Col. Steven Warren, the front man for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, said the destruction of the bridge may prove to be a tactical mistake for Daesh [Islamic State]. "What they've also done now is they've really cut themselves off," he said. "So the fighters left on the north side of the river can't retreat and the fighters on the south side of the river can't send reinforcements." Muhannad Haimour, the front man for the Anbar governor's office, said he received reports from residents still inside Ramadi that Daesh [Islamic State] was also destroying buildings and radio towers. "We've seen this before; they tend to blow up not just bridges, but a lot of infrastructure inside the city," Haimour said. Haimour added that according to reports he received, about two months ago Daesh [Islamic State] fighters began moving their families out of Ramadi and toward the town of Hit northwest of Ramadi. That, he said is when he believes the tide began to turn against Daesh [Islamic State] in the Anbar picturesque provincial capital. |
| Posted by:Fred |