Iraq’s army said on Sunday it had defeated Islamic State fighters in the provincial capital west of Baghdad, the first major victory for the United States-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.
Victory in Ramadi deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The fighters captured it in May after government troops fled in a defeat which prompted Washington to take a hard look at strategy against the militants.
Iraqi forces on Sunday took control of the government complex in central Ramadi, the last Islamic State stronghold in the western city, a military spokesman said.
“By controlling the complex this means that they have been defeated in Ramadi,” said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side. “The next step is to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city.”
“The complex is under our complete control, there is no presence whatsoever of Daesh fighters in the complex,” he said.
The recapture of Ramadi would be the third success for Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary groups in three months. They retook the oil refining town of Beiji in October and in November, Iraqi Kurdish forces drove the Sunni Muslim extremist group out of the strategic city of Sinjar.
After Ramadi, the army plans to move to retake the northern city of Mosul, the biggest population centre under the Islamic State.
Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to 2 million, would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents.
Image: Iraqi security forces stand with an Islamist State flag which they pulled down after their victory over the militants in Ramadi. Photograph: Reuters
