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America and Iran to join forces in counter-attack on Ramadi
America and Iran to join forces in counter-attack on Ramadi Video shows scale of damage in ghost town after Iraqi army flees Islamic State attack
5/19/15
America and Iran on Monday took another step towards direct military co-operation in Iraq as pro-government forces prepared a counter-attack to retake the key western city of Ramadi.
Iran’s defence minister, Hossein Dehghan, flew into Baghdad for talks with the government after the Iraqi army fled from a concerted attack by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Ramadi, the capital of the majority-Sunni Anbar province.
The Iraqi government called up the so-called Popular Mobilisation Committees, an alliance of mainly Shia, pro-Iran militias who were gathering on the outskirts of the town along with Sunni tribal fighters on Monday afternoon.
The United States confirmed it had conducted bombing raids on Ramadi on Sunday as soldiers fled in disarray, and that it would continue to do so even if the Committees took a lead role in the counter-attack.
Ramadi_following_I_3308788b.jpg
Credit: YouTube / وكالة أعماق الإخبارية
The retreat left a ghost town behind, as video released from the city showed. Smoke rose over empty streets bordered by buildings, some scorched from the heat of battle.
A fighter raised Isil’s black flag over a roundabout.
The army’s elite units fled the city at the weekend after a months-long battle, the biggest gain by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant since the fall of Mosul last year.
The prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, ordered the so-called “Popular Mobilisation Committees” or Hashed al-Shaabi, an alliance of Shia militias, to prepare to retake Ramadi.
Iran’s defence minister, a further sign that Tehran is now its most important military backer.
However, the jihadists now have new supplies of weapons left behind by the army as they retreated - much of it high quality equipment provided by the Americans before they pulled out of Iraq in 2011.
Among the items that jihadist websites claimed they had captured were tanks, other vehicles, artillery, missile launchers and small arms.
Ramadi_following_I_3308787b.jpg
Credit: YouTube / وكالة أعماق الإخبارية
Isil’s victory effectively reverses the slow gains made by the Iraqi government and its allies this year, including the airborne western coalition conducting air strikes on its behalf.
It also worsens Iraq’s sectarian divide, fixing Isil firmly in Sunni heartlands like Anbar province, of which Ramadi is capital, and Mosul.
Baghdad along with its western, US-led allies, had been hoping that a combination of the US-trained army and pro-Baghdad Sunni tribesmen would fight off Isil.
Anbar province is overwhelmingly Sunni, and its hostility to the predominantly Shia government has been blamed for the rise of support there for Isil, a Sunni jihadist organisation.
It had seized parts of Ramadi and nearby Fallujah before its advance last summer swept the army before it, presenting itself as a force for Sunni liberation from Shia oppression.
"God has enabled the soldiers of the caliphate to cleanse all of Ramadi," the extremist group said in a statement posted online on Sunday night. A spokesman for Anbar’s governor confirmed the news, saying: "Ramadi has fallen".
The group had swept into the city last week, beginning its assault with six near-simultaneous car bombs and causing thousands of residents to flee.
Then it launched its final push on Sunday with four more bombs targeting police in the final pocket held by the government.
Video footage then showed the rapid flight of dozens of military vehicles, packed with security personnel. “There's no one here to defend us - our army has melted away” one local resident told The Telegraph.
Taha Abdul Ghani, a member of Anbar’s provincial council, said the withdrawal order was made to prevent mass casualties. At least 500 people, both civilian and military, have reportedly been killed in the jihadist offensive.
An estimated 8,000 residents have fled.
Ramadi_following_I_3308786b.jpg
Credit: YouTube / وكالة أعماق الإخبارية
The United States, which has led airstrikes against Isil, avoided making a definitive pronouncement on the situation in Ramadi on Sunday night. A spokesman for the Pentagon said Isil had "military advantage" in the city but the US-led coalition would support Iraqi forces to "take it back later".
John Kerry, US Secretary of State, said on Monday he was confident the Isil takeover of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi would be reversed in coming weeks.
Mr Kerry told a news conference in Seoul that Ramadi had been a target of opportunity for the Islamist militants.
"I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed and as the days flow in the weeks ahead that's going to change, as overall (they) have been driven back ... I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed," he said.
In a meeting with Iraqi officials over the weekend, the US Ambassador to Iraq, Stuart E. Jones, said his government would continue its air campaign provided the militias were under the control of Mr Abadi, and that they were properly organised.
That means that once again the United States will be conducting air support for military operations by Shia militias seen as backed by Iran - as happened when Tikrit was retaken earlier this year.
On Sunday night, a video recorded in one, the Iraqi city of Mosul, showed residents celebrating the news that another city had fallen.
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America and Iran to join forces in counter-attack on Ramadi Video shows scale of damage in ghost town after Iraqi army flees Islamic State attack
5/19/15
America and Iran on Monday took another step towards direct military co-operation in Iraq as pro-government forces prepared a counter-attack to retake the key western city of Ramadi.
Iran’s defence minister, Hossein Dehghan, flew into Baghdad for talks with the government after the Iraqi army fled from a concerted attack by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Ramadi, the capital of the majority-Sunni Anbar province.
The Iraqi government called up the so-called Popular Mobilisation Committees, an alliance of mainly Shia, pro-Iran militias who were gathering on the outskirts of the town along with Sunni tribal fighters on Monday afternoon.
The United States confirmed it had conducted bombing raids on Ramadi on Sunday as soldiers fled in disarray, and that it would continue to do so even if the Committees took a lead role in the counter-attack.
Ramadi_following_I_3308788b.jpg
Credit: YouTube / وكالة أعماق الإخبارية
The retreat left a ghost town behind, as video released from the city showed. Smoke rose over empty streets bordered by buildings, some scorched from the heat of battle.
A fighter raised Isil’s black flag over a roundabout.
The army’s elite units fled the city at the weekend after a months-long battle, the biggest gain by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant since the fall of Mosul last year.
The prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, ordered the so-called “Popular Mobilisation Committees” or Hashed al-Shaabi, an alliance of Shia militias, to prepare to retake Ramadi.
Iran’s defence minister, a further sign that Tehran is now its most important military backer.
However, the jihadists now have new supplies of weapons left behind by the army as they retreated - much of it high quality equipment provided by the Americans before they pulled out of Iraq in 2011.
Among the items that jihadist websites claimed they had captured were tanks, other vehicles, artillery, missile launchers and small arms.
Ramadi_following_I_3308787b.jpg
Credit: YouTube / وكالة أعماق الإخبارية
Isil’s victory effectively reverses the slow gains made by the Iraqi government and its allies this year, including the airborne western coalition conducting air strikes on its behalf.
It also worsens Iraq’s sectarian divide, fixing Isil firmly in Sunni heartlands like Anbar province, of which Ramadi is capital, and Mosul.
Baghdad along with its western, US-led allies, had been hoping that a combination of the US-trained army and pro-Baghdad Sunni tribesmen would fight off Isil.
Anbar province is overwhelmingly Sunni, and its hostility to the predominantly Shia government has been blamed for the rise of support there for Isil, a Sunni jihadist organisation.
It had seized parts of Ramadi and nearby Fallujah before its advance last summer swept the army before it, presenting itself as a force for Sunni liberation from Shia oppression.
"God has enabled the soldiers of the caliphate to cleanse all of Ramadi," the extremist group said in a statement posted online on Sunday night. A spokesman for Anbar’s governor confirmed the news, saying: "Ramadi has fallen".
The group had swept into the city last week, beginning its assault with six near-simultaneous car bombs and causing thousands of residents to flee.
Then it launched its final push on Sunday with four more bombs targeting police in the final pocket held by the government.
Video footage then showed the rapid flight of dozens of military vehicles, packed with security personnel. “There's no one here to defend us - our army has melted away” one local resident told The Telegraph.
Taha Abdul Ghani, a member of Anbar’s provincial council, said the withdrawal order was made to prevent mass casualties. At least 500 people, both civilian and military, have reportedly been killed in the jihadist offensive.
An estimated 8,000 residents have fled.
Ramadi_following_I_3308786b.jpg
Credit: YouTube / وكالة أعماق الإخبارية
The United States, which has led airstrikes against Isil, avoided making a definitive pronouncement on the situation in Ramadi on Sunday night. A spokesman for the Pentagon said Isil had "military advantage" in the city but the US-led coalition would support Iraqi forces to "take it back later".
John Kerry, US Secretary of State, said on Monday he was confident the Isil takeover of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi would be reversed in coming weeks.
Mr Kerry told a news conference in Seoul that Ramadi had been a target of opportunity for the Islamist militants.
"I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed and as the days flow in the weeks ahead that's going to change, as overall (they) have been driven back ... I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed," he said.
In a meeting with Iraqi officials over the weekend, the US Ambassador to Iraq, Stuart E. Jones, said his government would continue its air campaign provided the militias were under the control of Mr Abadi, and that they were properly organised.
That means that once again the United States will be conducting air support for military operations by Shia militias seen as backed by Iran - as happened when Tikrit was retaken earlier this year.
On Sunday night, a video recorded in one, the Iraqi city of Mosul, showed residents celebrating the news that another city had fallen.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
