Tue Nov 10, 2015 16:09:32
Iraqi army backed by popular committees have surrounded the central city of Ramadi from four directions, preparing to fully liberate it from Takfiri ISIS terrorists.
The forces managed to close in on Ramadi, which is the capital of Anbar Province and is located some 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, after flushing the terrorists out of five areas and clearing out a military camp and a base formerly belonging to the army’s 8th Division, all located in the western part of the city.
Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanimi said on Tuesday that the terrorist group had lost its footing in the province and was no longer capable of confronting Iraqi forces, citing ISIS’s recent moves to abandon its positions and weaponry and flee the battleground during engagement.
Last Wednesday, Brigadier-General Yahya Rasoul, a senior Iraqi military official, confirmed that army troopers and forces from the Popular Mobilization units, an umbrella group of fighters, had wrested control of 80 percent of the province of Anbar and that central parts of Ramadi had been liberated.
Ghanimi said the joint forces will begin the operation to fully clear the city of ISIS in the near future.
A military source, meanwhile, said hundreds of military forces and a large number of armored vehicles were deployed to the city on Monday for the operation.
ISIS has overrun about a third of the country, where it is tyrannizing the civilian population. Ramadi fell to ISIS back in May. Operations to free the city were several times hampered by bad weather.
Also on Monday, Iraqi aircraft started to drop warning pamphlets throughout the city, encouraging the residents to cooperate with the armed forces and trust them with whatever information they might possess on the terrorists; Press TV reported.
S/SH
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