Iraqi Volunteer Forces Change Battle Equation in Ramadi
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iraqi volunteer forces and the army troops mounted a major operation against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group near Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, on Saturday, the spokesman of the volunteer forces said.
Jaffar Husseini, spokesman for Shiite paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah, said more than 2,000 reinforcements had joined the pro-government advance and they had managed to secure Khalidiya and the road linking it to Habbaniya.
"Today will witness the launch of some tactical operations that pave the way to the eventual liberation of Ramadi," he told Reuters by telephone.
Anbar provincial council member Azzal Obaid said hundreds of volunteer fighters, who had assembled last week at the Habbaniya air base, moved into Khalidiya on Saturday and were nearing Siddiqiya and Madiq, towns in contested territory near Ramadi.
Two police officers later told Reuters the pro-government forces, which they said included locally allied Sunni tribesmen, had advanced past those towns to within one kilometer of Husaiba al-Sharqiya, an ISIL-run town 7 kilometers (4 miles) east of the Ramadi city limits.
One officer said the volunteer forces exchanged fire with the ISIL but there was no immediate word on casualties.
At the same time, ISIL units have been pushing toward Fallujah to try to absorb more territory between it and Ramadi that would bring them closer to Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, around 80 km (50 miles) to the east.
The ISIL terrorists has controlled Fallujah for more than a year.
Ramadi fell to the ISIL militants on May 17 in a serious setback for Iraqi forces, which has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the US strategy of air strikes to help Baghdad roll back the insurgents, which now hold a third each of Iraq and adjacent Syria.
