• Iraqi forces to retake Mosul from Islamic State after Ramadi secured: PM
    6 replies, posted
[url]http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqi-forces-set-sights-on-mosul-as-ramadi-offensive-continues-1451059275[/url] [quote]Iraqi troops will press to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul once they have control of the western provincial capital of Ramadi, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Friday. “The liberation of dear Mosul will be achieved with the cooperation and unity of all Iraqis after the victory in Ramadi,” he said in a statement published online by state media. Iraqi and American military leaders see the battle for Ramadi as a testing ground for a future assault on Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the extremist group’s de facto capital in the country. Iraqi ground forces are on the fourth day of an offensive to retake Ramadi, backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State. Though Kurdish fighters and Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militia groups have led most victories against Islamic State in the country, most of the fighting in Ramadi has been carried out by an Iraqi army recently retrained and re-equipped by the U.S.[/quote] [url]http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN0U80HL20151225[/url] [quote]Iraq's armed forces will move to retake the major northern city of Mosul from Islamic State once they capture the western city of Ramadi, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Friday. Capturing Mosul would deprive the militant group of its biggest population center in both Iraq and Syria, effectively abolishing the state structure of IS in Iraq, depriving it of a major source of funding and dealing a blow to its influence. The capture of Ramadi would give the army a major psychological boost in its move toward Mosul. The cities are about 420 km (260 miles) apart by road. Iraqi forces started an attack on Tuesday to dislodge Islamic State militants from the center of Ramadi, the last district under their control in the city they had captured in May.[/quote]
It's good to see them progressing solidly. I wonder how much intel is being passed between the NATO and Russian forces to the Iraqi forces though. Surely they're not all doing their own thing in the one region.
Perhaps, if victorious, the struggle against ISIS will create a little more sense of union in Iraq. I don't know - I don't know the situation out there that well. But the government seems to be toting the 'all of Iraq' party line.
I knew they were going to assault Ramadi, but I hadn't heard if they had actually captured it and figured if anything they were in siege mode, which seems to be the case.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;49390672]I knew they were going to assault Ramadi, but I hadn't heard if they had actually captured it and figured if anything they were in siege mode, which seems to be the case.[/QUOTE] IIRC, Ramadi is more or less Iraq's again and it's just a few IS fighters left.
[QUOTE=Bradyns;49387541]It's good to see them progressing solidly. I wonder how much intel is being passed between the NATO and Russian forces to the Iraqi forces though. Surely they're not all doing their own thing in the one region.[/QUOTE] NATO passes on lots of information on which targets in Syria are not to be bombed. Apparently, the word 'not' doesn't translate well into Russian, though.
[QUOTE=GrizzlyBear;49390700]IIRC, Ramadi is more or less Iraq's again and it's just a few IS fighters left.[/QUOTE] Do you have a source on this? Afaik it has been back and forth, especially due to the lack of the shiite militias in combat.
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