Baghdad -- Iraqi forces retook territory from the Daesh group east of Ramadi on Saturday, commanders said, in their first counterattack since Anbar’s provincial capital fell a week ago. A mosaic of anti-Daesh forces had for days been massing in the Euphrates Valley to ready for an offensive aimed at turning the tide on militants.The May 17 takeover of Ramadi was Baghdad’s worst defeat in almost a year while the capture three days later of the Syrian city of Palmyra positioned Daesh for a possible drive on Damascus.
| Don't worry about it. Champ says it's just a 'setback'... |
“The Husaybah area is now under full control and the forces are now advancing to liberate neighbouring Jweibah,” a police colonel said from the front.
Anbar’s most prominent Sunni tribal leader, Sheikh Rafia Abdelkarim Al Fahdawi, deployed his forces, whose knowledge of the terrain is key, alongside fighters from the Hashed Al Shaabi, an umbrella for Shia militia and volunteers. The police colonel said the Husaybah operation also involved local and federal police, the interior ministry’s rapid intervention force as well as the army.
| Notice the complete absence of any mention of the Iraqi Federal Army. It's like they don't exist... |
“What happened in Anbar is very similar to what happened last year in Diyala, Mosul and Salaheddin,” said Ahmed Al Assadi, spokesman of the Hashed Al Shaabi (popular mobilisation).
He was referring to the debacle of security forces when Daesh-led fighters swept across Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland in June last year, bringing Iraq to the brink of collapse.
Some Iraqi forces were criticised for avoiding battle during the fall of Ramadi, which led Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi to call in the Hashed Al Shaabi, which has some well-trained units but mainly adds numbers and determination.
He and Washington had opposed the mass deployment in the Sunni province of Anbar of militia groups with direct ties to Iran and a dubious human rights record. However, the strategy of US-led coalition air strikes while the security apparatus gets revamped has failed to keep up with the pace of Daesh advances.
| So we're not being useful and instead are carping about the Iraqi government moves. That's rather typical of Champ... |
Washington tried to remain
The militants, who now control roughly half of Syria, reinforced their self-declared transfrontier “caliphate” by seizing Syria’s Al Tanaf crossing on the Damascus-Baghdad highway late Thursday. Fabrice Balanche, a French expert on Syria, said “Daesh now dominates central Syria, a crossroads of primary importance” that could allow it to advance towards the capital and third city Homs.
The Daesh advance in both countries forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes, sparking
| I can hear the hand-wringing... |