KABUL: (MEP) Iraq has declared the city of Ramadi liberated from the control of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group terrorists since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.
Fighters brandishing rifles danced in the Anbar provincial capital as top commanders paraded through the streets after recapturing the city they lost to ISIS in May.
“Ramadi has been liberated and the armed forces of the counter-terrorism service have raised the Iraqi flag above the government complex,” Brig Gen Yahya Rasool announced on state television.
But another senior comander, General Ismail al-Mahlawi, quickly cautioned that parts of the city remained under IS group control.
After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday.
The US-led anti-IS coalition praised the performance of the Iraqi forces in retaking Ramadi, an operation in which it played a significant role, training local forces, arming them and carrying out what it said were 600 air strikes since July.
Brig Gen Majid al-Fatlawi of the army’s 8th division told the Associated Press that the advance on Ramadi had been hampered by suicide bombers, snipers and booby traps. “Daesh [ISIS] has planted more than 300 explosive devices on the roads and in the buildings of the government complex,” he said.
The Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, gave a televised address congratulating Iraqi fighters, saying they had killed hundreds of militants and “fulfilled the promise to defeat Daesh in Ramadi”, referring to Isis group by its Arabic acronym. He said 2016 would be “the year of the final victory and the end of the existence of Daesh on Iraqi territory … We are coming to liberate Mosul, which will be the fatal blow to Daesh.”
Col Steve Warren, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, told AP that “today’s success is a proud moment for Iraq”. “The clearance of the government centre is a significant accomplishment and is the result of many months of hard work by the Iraqi army, the counterterrorism service, the Iraqi air force, local and federal police, and tribal fighters,” Warren said.
In a press release, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, praised the Iraqi forces’ “perseverance and courage”. He went on: “The Iraqi military is fighting with determination, courage, and skill to dislodge the enemy and bring closer the day when the city can be returned to families who have fled the terror of ISIL (ISIS).
French President François Hollande called the liberation of Ramadi the “most important victory yet” in the fight against the jihadists.
