More:{19.05.15}The scale of the defeat in Ramadi is beginning to set in on the generals in Washington. Regardless of the claimed successful raid that killed the ISIS oil chief, the loss of Ramadi is a strategic defeat equal to the loss of Mosul because the town in on the road to Baghdad only 70 miles to the west, and elite units of the Iraqi army, trained by the United States, were routed from the town. The so-called "Golden Division", considered the Iraqi army's best unit, streamed out of Ramadi leaving more armour and heavy weapons behind. The Iraqis were also supported by US airstrikes. Without an air force, ISIS made effective use of kamakazi car bombs, blowing up fighting positions, buildings and barriers. A local politician described the situation as "total collapse". About 114,000 residents of Ramadi have fled. Baghdad will now be forced to deploy Hashd Shaabi, Shia paramilitaries trained and equipped by Iran to stave off an assualt on the center of power; that development will be a severe blow to US influence in Iraq. The Popular Mobilization milita was the unit that helped retake what is left of Tikrit from ISIS. Washington said it will not support Iranian-backed units.
Iraq's army had been fighting for the province of Anbar since early 2014 when the militants took Fallujah. Five divisions were unable to reclaim the province, but had held on to the administrative center in Ramadi until Sunday when ISIS attacked the last pockets of resistence in the Malaad district. There are reports of desertions among Iraqi's elite units numbering about 5,000 who have been rushed from crisis to crisis in the war against ISIS. The terror army will portray its victory in Ramadi as proof of divine guidance which will probably rally more Sunni jihadists to its black flag. It now controls about a third of the land area of Iraq.
Update:{15.05.15}Selon l'Observatoire Syrien des Droits de l'Homme, vingt-trois civils ont été executés par les extrémistes islamiques pour "collaboration avec le regime" vendredi. Cela porte a quarante-cinq personnes tueé en deux jours pres de la ville antique Palmyre.
{15.05.15}Iraq's western desert to the Syrian border is now mostly under the control of the terror army ISIS. The group took control of the provincial capital of Ramadi's main government building Friday. Mortars and suicide car bombs were used in the attack. At least 50 government officers were captured; there are reports the were summarily executed. This defeat comes after Shitte militia and US airstrikes forced ISIS to with draw from Tikrit earlier this year. Ramadi was the target of 165 airstrikes in the last month. Anbar Province is strategically important since it gives the group control of cross-border highway links with fighters in Syria. If it hangs on to Ramadi, ISIS effectively control's Iraq's largest province, and the only region that is predominately Sunni. US troops fought for Anbar Province for eight years with a major battle to take Falluja in 2004, where thousands died in devastating urban warfare. An-Bar was eventually put under tenuous government control when Sunni tribe leaders agreed to stop fighting in return for cash, a bribe euphemistically referred to as the "Sunni Awakening", but the conflict was merely put on hold regardless of the US claiming victory. When US ground forces departed in 2011, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, once led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resumed fighting the Baghdad government. AQI has since morphed and expanded into ISIS [BBC interactive].A Unesco World Heritage site found in the middle of the Syrian desert, the ancient 2nd-3rd century ruins of Palmyra [photos], is also under threat from ISIS which has destroyed cultural treasures in Nimrod, Hatra and Mosul. Syrian officials said the ancient city is protected by the army and that the extremists have not reached the site yet. However, there is intense fighting in the adjacent modern town of Tadmor. The site lies on a strategic road between Damascus and the contested city of Deir al-Zour, and runs past a large military base and gas fields. Apparently, the situation on the ground will again "require precise and targeting military action".
 |
| credit: Michael Ramiez Wackydoodle axes: Them Romans back? |