BAGHDAD — An Iraqi military spokesman says that the city of Ramadi, which was taken by the Daesh group in May, has been “fully liberated.”
Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool announced on Monday that government forces had retaken the capital of Anbar Province after a protracted siege. But Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, said that troops had only retaken a strategic government complex and that parts of the city remained under Daesh control.
Iraq’s military flew the Iraqi flag above the central government complex in city of Ramadi, a military spokesman said on Monday, the morning after the army declared the city captured in its first major victory over Daesh.
“Yes, the city of Ramadi has been liberated. The Iraqi counter terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex in Anbar,” joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Victory in Ramadi is the first major triumph for Iraq’s US-trained army since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.
Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of Baghdad, had been Daesh’s biggest prize of 2015, seized in May.
Iraqi forces launched an assault on the city last week and made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday. Their progress had been slowed by explosives planted in streets and booby-trapped buildings.
Security officials have said the forces still need to clear some pockets of insurgents in the city and its outskirts.
If the recapture of Ramadi is confirmed, it will be the first major city seized from Daesh by Iraq’s military.
The militias were held back from the battlefield in Ramadi this time to avoid antagonizing the mainly Sunni population.
The government has said the next target after Ramadi will be the northern city of Mosul, by far the largest population center controlled by Daesh in either Iraq or Syria. — Agencies
