Iraq’s defence minister, Kahled al-Obeidi told reporters that the operation to retake the city of Ramadi from ISIS terrorists is drawing to its conclusion, and anticipates the full liberation of the city in Anbar Province before the end of December.
“I met with the Joint Operations Command and they confirmed to me that we will regain all of the city of Ramadi by the end of this month,” he said, adding “The reason the battle took so long was to avoid casualties among our forces and also to avoid civilian casualties. There are still many civilians in the city.”
Large areas of Anbar have been under ISIS control since the beginning of 2014, and Ramadi fell to the extremists in the summer of that year.
There are estimated to be around 300 ISIs fighters remaining in the city, using tunnels to avoid airstrikes, a tactic ever more popular as the the aerial campaign shows some success. US military spokesperson in Baghdad Colonel Steve Warren said that “The city of Ramadi has now been fully isolated, and the Iraqi security forces are beginning to conduct their clearing operations.”
Ramadi sits on the Euphrates river, 100 km west of Baghdad.
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