Iraq forces push into Ramadi

By late Sunday evening Iraqi forces were within 300 metres of the government compound, said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism force that is leading the fight on the government side. 

The forces had to fight their way through “booby trapped houses and roadside bombs are all over the streets, air surveillance is helping detect car bombs and suicide bombers before they get to us,” he added. 

Ramadi is the capital of the mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province in the fertile Euphrates River valley, just two hours drive west of Baghdad. If the offensive in Ramadi succeeds, it will be the second main city to be retaken by the Iraqi government after Tikrit, in April. Officials said it would be handed over to the local police and to a Sunni tribal force once secured. Ramadi was Islamic State’s biggest prize of 2015, abandoned by government forces in May in a major setback for Baghdad and for the Iraqi troops trained by the United States since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.