RAMADI — (CNN) More than half of Ramadi — the Iraqi city whose sudden fall to ISIS raised questions about Baghdad’s ability to combat the terror group — is now back in Iraqi control after a big push early this week, the country’s military said.
The inroads came after Iraqi troops, counterterrorism unit members and federal police officers targeted ISIS militants from three sides in a 24-hour period, aided by U.S.-led airstrikes. Iraq’s Joint Military Command reported 60% of the Anbar province city had been retaken, including a one-time Iraqi military headquarters in northern Ramadi as well as western and southern parts of the city.
Dozens of ISIS fighters died in the process, according to the military, though the number of Iraqi casualties (if any) wasn’t immediately clear. Iraqi troops also managed to confiscate a large amount of weaponry.
Symbolic importance
Besides its strategic significance, some 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Ramadi also has symbolic importance in Iraq’s fight against ISIS.
That’s because Iraqi forces withdrew en masse from the city last May, a pullout that spurred U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter to question whether the Iraqis lacked the “will to fight.”
Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, later said Carter had bad information. And Salim al-Jabouri, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament and arguably the country’s most powerful Sunni politician, said that even the Prime Minister didn’t know of the withdrawal until after it happened.
This embarrassment has made retaking Ramadi a focus for Iraqi forces, who have been battling ISIS on many fronts. The terror group has taken over vast swaths of Iraq and neighboring Syria while creating what it calls the Islamic State, in addition to inspiring and carrying out attacks elsewhere.
Starting late last month, Iraqi forces began dropping leaflets on Ramadi urging people to leave the city ahead of a promised military offensive.
“To our people in the city of Ramadi, evacuate your families from the city immediately and go to the south through al Hameera area,” the leaflets read, according to the Iraqi military.
But leaving isn’t necessarily easy. Ramadi residents told CNN on Monday night that ISIS had set up additional checkpoints around the city to prevent people from fleeing.
“Daesh made it very clear to all of us that anyone who tries to flee the city will be considered an apostate. And you know what they will do to an apostate,” said one resident, referring to ISIS’ practice of detaining and killing those who don’t accept its extreme ideology.
This suggests that civilians will be in danger in any Iraqi onslaught.
But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. In fact, it’s been talked about for weeks, if not months.
The Iraqis began pushing last spring, right after Ramadi fell. That didn’t yield immediate results.
In October, Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, told reporters that “we now believe the battlefield conditions are set” for Iraqi forces to take back Ramadi.
At that point, Iraqi forces had established positions in the city’s suburbs, he said.
“We’d like to see them move as rapidly as possible,” Warren said then. “We believe now is the time for the final push into Ramadi.”
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