After months of progress, Iraqi troops and Popular Forces backed by airstrikes have surrounded the key city of Ramadi and appear to begin a new attempt to wrest it from the ISIS terrorist group.
The significant victories against the ISIL Takfiri militants in recent days and weeks and recapturing of several areas in Ramadi capital of Anbar Province, have laid the ground for the pro-government forces to concentrate on a massive operation to regain the strategic city of Ramadi, sources said.
"Iraqi security forces and volunteer fighters launched large-scale attacks against ISIL terrorists in Ramadi city, reports said on Tuesday."
The encirclement of Ramadi is a key first step in retaking it, said Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan.
The Iraqi forces will start clearing the city of ISIS militants "in the coming days, less than a week," he added.
The news comes a day after Iraq’s military command called on the local residents of Ramadi to leave some areas of the city in the earliest convenience as army troops and popular forces are gearing up for a large-scale offensive to liberate the strategic city from the control of the terrorists, FNA reports.
The broadcast asked Ramadi civilians to depart from the city’s Southern neighborhood of Humaira.
Also on Monday, a security source said Iraqi troops managed to retake Husaybah city, which lies seven kilometers East of Ramadi, from the ISIL terrorists.
ISIS terrorist group capture Ramadi in summer of 2014.