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| Iraqi soldiers raise the Iraqi national flag inside the government complex that was recaptured from Islamic State militants, in central Ramadi, west of Iraq, Monday. EPA-Yonhap |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) ― A triumphant Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared Monday that the coming year will see his forces defeat the Islamic State group, after his military achieved its first major victory since collapsing in the face of the fighters 18 months ago.
Iraqi forces flew the national flag above the main government complex in Ramadi earlier in the day, declaring they had recaptured the city, a provincial capital west of Baghdad that fell to Islamic State fighters in May.
“2016 will be the year of the big and final victory, when Daesh’s presence in Iraq will be terminated,” Abadi said in a speech broadcast on state television, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State that the hard-line group rejects.
“We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh,” he added. Mosul, northern Iraq’s main city, is by far the largest population center in the self-proclaimed caliphate Islamic State rules in Iraq and Syria.
The army’s apparent capture of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of Baghdad, marks a major milestone for the U.S.-trained force that crumbled when Islamic State fighters charged into Iraq in June 2014. In previous battles since then, Iraq’s armed forces operated mainly in a supporting role beside Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
Soldiers were shown on state television Monday publicly slaughtering a sheep in an act of celebration.
Gunshots and an explosion could be heard as a state TV reporter interviewed other soldiers celebrating the victory with their automatic weapons held in the air. A separate plume of smoke could be seen nearby.
U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for a U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi forces, said in a statement: “The clearance of the government center is a significant accomplishment and is the result of many months of hard work.”
He said the coalition had provided more than 630 air strikes in the area over the past six months as well as training, advice and equipment to the army, counterterrorism forces and police.
The U.S.-led coalition, which includes major European and Arab powers, has been waging an air campaign against Islamic State positions in both Iraq and Syria since a third of Iraqi territory fell to the fighters in mid-2014.
The Iraqi Army was humiliated in that advance, abandoning city after city and leaving fleets of American armored vehicles and other weapons in the militants’ hands. One of the main challenges of the conflict since then has been rebuilding Iraq’s army into a force capable of capturing and holding territory.
Baghdad has said for months that it would prove its forces’ rebuilt capability by rolling back militant advances in Anbar, a mainly Sunni province encompassing the fertile Euphrates River valley from Baghdad’s outskirts to the Syrian border.
After encircling the provincial capital for weeks, Iraqi forces launched an assault to retake it last week and made a final push to seize the central administration complex Sunday. Their progress had been slowed by explosives planted in streets and booby-trapped buildings.
Security officials said the forces still need to clear some pockets of insurgents in the city and its outskirts.
Authorities gave no immediate death toll from the battle for the city. They have said most residents were evacuated before the assault.
Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the capture of Ramadi was “a done deal,” but said the government had to do more to rebuild the city and encourage displaced people to return.
“The most important thing is to secure it (Ramadi), because Daesh can bounce back,” he said in an interview in Baghdad.
Iraq’s army took the lead in the battle for Ramadi, with the Shiite militias prominent in other campaigns held back from the battlefield to avoid antagonizing the mainly Sunni population. Washington had also expressed reluctance about being seen as fighting alongside the Iranian-backed groups.
Abadi took office in September 2014 after the Islamic State advance, pledging to reconcile Iraq’s warring sectarian communities. While he initially swung behind Shiite militias to help halt Islamic State’s onslaught, he has since tried to implement reforms to reduce the power of sectarian parties, angering many political leaders.
