Iraqi forces re-capture ISIS command base in Ramadi

Rasa - Iraqi government forces say they have captured a command headquarters for the so-cllaed Islamic State militants in the city of Ramadi, according to reports.

News ID: 3019

Date: 28 July 2015 - 00:36

RNA - The University of Anbar complex is a "significant stronghold and a key command base" for IS forces in Ramadi, the BBC quoted Sabah al-Noamani, a spokesman for Iraq's counter-terrorism forces, as saying.

Iraqi forces fought for hours on Sunday trying to cut the base off from Ramadi's other districts in order to deprive retreating IS fighters of supply routes.

Iraqi News quoted Brigadier General Abdul Amir al-Khazraji, deputy commander of operations in Anbar province, as saying Iraqi government forces "managed [at] dawn today to liberate Anbar University from the control of [IS]," after "violent clashes [that] lasted for hours."

Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, the thrust into Ramadi is part of a wider offensive by the Iraqi military into Anbar province that began earlier this month. Dozens of people died on both sides during fighting near Fallujah, Haditha and other locations in the province last week.

IS militants sent Iraqi security forces fleeing from Ramadi in May, but the extremists controlled portions of the city, as well as much of the Anbar province, since January 2014. There are an estimated 2,000 IS fighters holding Ramadi.

Shortly before U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made a surprise visit to Baghdad last week, Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters that Iraqi security forces were "beginning to isolate Ramadi from multiple directions" in order to "place a noose around the city."

"This is classic maneuver warfare," he said.

Iraqi government troops were able to capture Tikrit from the extremists in April but were heavily reliant on coalition air power and Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashd Shaabi.

The Shia fighters were mobilized after the loss of Ramadi, which is the capital of Anbar province.

According to United Nations estimates, violence has killed nearly 15,000 civilians in Iraq since the start of 2014 to the end of April 2015, while more than 29,000 have been wounded.

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