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[h=4]Iraqi military claims key victory in Ramadi, says ISIL is in retreat[/h]WASHINGTON – Iraqi security forces on Sunday claimed control of a key government facility in central Ramadi, wresting more territory in the disputed city from Islamic State fighters. Meanwhile, in Syria, U.S
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Iraq's army has made some major progress in Ramadi.
Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Members of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service patrol Ramadi, Dec. 27(Photo: Ahmad Al- Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces on Sunday claimed control of a key government facility in central Ramadi, wresting more territory in the disputed city from Islamic State fighters after several days of fierce fighting.
In Syria, U.S.-backed fighters took control of a key dam,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>severing a supply line between Raqqa, the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Islamic State's self-proclaimed capital, and militant<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fighters on the Turkish border.
"We have besieged the complex from all the directions,” said Col.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Mohammed Ibrahim, an Iraqi military<span style="color: Red;">*</span>spokesman. "The area is in our hands.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>No militants are inside it.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>All of them fled or were killed.”
Speaker of Parliament Salim al Jubouri hailed the "big victory" over the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and said "the liberation of Ramadi broke the spine" of the militants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would be "the beginning of the liberation of Mosul."
"It's been a great operational day," Army Col. Steve Warren, the top spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS. "We're hitting them with combination punches now. They're getting hit in multiple places simultaneously. That said, the war's not over. There's plenty of fighting left to be done. But we're seeing good signs."
Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq, has been held by ISIL,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>since May when its forces overran the city as government troops fled in a humiliating retreat without a fight. That followed losses across Iraq, including ISIL overrunning Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in the summer of 2014.
In Ramadi, after months of airstrikes, Iraqi troops, advised and equipped by forces from the U.S.-led coalition, have gradually retaken parts of the city, culminating in Sunday's capture of buildings at the government center. ISIL had built up defenses in the city by laying minefields, booby-trapping buildings and attacking advancing Iraqis with car bombs and snipers.
"What this shows is that the Iraqis have moved from an army that folded on initial contact in the summer of '14 to an army that has been able to conduct a complex operation in a large, built-up area," Warren said. "This is the biggest thing the Iraqi army has done. Period."
The Pentagon was unable to confirm that Iraqi forces have secured the entire government complex.
"The Islamic State withdrew from the compound,” said Ali Dawood, a local government official in Ramadi. “They took dozens of the families who live nearby as human shields and moved east of Ramadi, an area which is still under their control.”
The Iraqi military said a large number of militants have moved to Fallujah through tunnels, and the rest are stuck in the eastern districts around Ramadi.
In Syria, the capture of the Tishreen dam by U.S.-backed fighters helps isolate ISIL fighters holding the region near the Turkish border, known as the Mandij Pocket, from supplies in Raqqa, Warren said. U.S. cargo planes have dropped ammunition and weapons to the Syrians fighting ISIL.
Securing the border will limit the influx of foreign fighters into ISIL's ranks. Many of these fighters make up the core of ISIL's elite units.
Vanden Brook reported from Washington
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