Baghdad: Iraqi military forces said on Thursday that they have retaken the desert town of Rutba from Daesh after a two-day battle during which commanders said they countered limited resistance from the militants.
The Iraqi flag has been raised over the local council building in the town, the Iraqi military said in a statement.
Lying 340 miles west of Baghdad deep in the desert, Rutba sits on transit routes to Jordan and Syria. For that reason it has an “outsized strategic value”, Col Steve Warren, a US military spokesman, said in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday.
Recapturing it helps the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, while denying Daesh a “critical support zone”, he said.
“There was almost no resistance at all,” Brig Gen Abdul Ameer Al Khazraji, an officer with Iraq’s elite counterterrorism force, said after entering Rutba. “We thought that it would be a fierce fight, but we were surprised that the enemy entirely collapsed.”
Aside from a few attempted car bombings, it was like entering “an empty area”, he said.
It’s one of a series of victories for government forces in Iraq’s western Anbar province, and some Iraqi military and militia leaders say plans are in place to build on the momentum and attack Fallujah next.
A drawn-out offensive for Fallujah, the first city in the country to fall to Daesh and the site of one of the bloodiest battles for US Marines during the Iraq War, could delay an already stuttering buildup to retake the northern city of Mosul.
Rutba was captured by Daesh in June 2014 shortly after the northern city of Mosul fell, but its desert surroundings were home to the group’s training camps and bases before the group captured territory. It has long been a base for smuggling and militancy, a stronghold of Al Qaida in the past.
“Taking Rutba will weaken the enemy because Rutba is home to their leaders and training camps,” said Brig Gen Yahya Rasoul, spokesman for the Iraqi military. The open desert ground makes it difficult for the militants to defend, he said.
Some analysts have said that Daesh’s lack of resistance in Rutba may be because it is hunkering down to protect its key Iraq strongholds in Mosul and Fallujah.
The militants have also waged a bombing campaign in Baghdad that US and Iraqi military officials say is designed to delay efforts to retake those cities.
But the Baghdad bombing campaign has also added weight to those in Iraq who have been pushing for a Fallujah operation before any campaign for Mosul. The city is just 40 miles from Baghdad.
“Our next operation will be in Fallujah,” Hadi Al Amiri, the head of the Badr Organizstion, a powerful Shiite militia that also controls the country’s ministry of the interior, said in a speech on Wednesday. Other militia leaders followed suit with statements saying that preparations had been made for a battle for the city.
“Fallujah will be before Mosul,” said Col Firas Hussain Abed, a commander in the 6th Division, who said additional Iraqi troops were deployed in the area. “The plans are in place,” he said, adding that he expected an operation to start in about two weeks. Iraqi forces have announced operations to retake the city multiple times in the past, but they have always stalled on its outskirts.
Sabah Al Nouri, a spokesman for Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, said he expected a Fallujah operation “soon”.
“We have a plan for Fallujah and there are preparations,” he said. “I think after Rutba we’ll be going there, but the timing of the start of the battle is according to the wishes of the prime minister.”
