Baghdad: Iraq on Tuesday announced the launch of a military operation to drive Daesh out of the western Al Anbar province, where the extremists captured the provincial capital, Ramadi, earlier this month.
Iraqi state TV declared the start of the operation, in which troops will be backed by Shiite and Sunni paramilitary forces, but did not provide further details.
Daesh seized large parts of Al Anbar starting in early 2014 and captured Ramadi earlier this month. The fall of the city marked a major defeat for Iraqi forces, which had been making steady progress against the extremists over the past year with the help of US-led air strikes.
Security forces and militiamen who had been battling the extremists in Ramadi for months collapsed as Daesh fighters overran the city. The militants gained not only new territory 115 km west of Baghdad, but also large stocks of weapons abandoned by the government forces as they fled.
The capture of Ramadi was a major blow to the US-backed strategy against Daesh. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Sunday that Iraqi forces had “vastly outnumbered” the Daesh militants in Ramadi but “showed no will to fight.”
Sa’ad Al Hadithi, a spokesman for Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, said the government was surprised by Carter’s remarks, and that the defence secretary “was likely given incorrect information.”
Al Abadi has called on militias to help Iraqi troops retake the province of Al Anbar. The militiamen have played a key role in clawing back territory from the Daesh group elsewhere in Iraq but rights groups accuse them of looting, destroying property and carrying out revenge attacks. Militia leaders deny the allegations.
