US, Russia and Iran join forces to retake Ramadi

A new offensive was launched three days ago to retake the Iraqi city of Ramadi from ISIS forces. For the first time all three principal actors will fight a coordinated campaign against ISIS, with both Sunni and Shiite Iraqi militias also fighting alongside the local (principally Shiite) Iraqi army (note that the Iraqi-army officially denies the involvement of Shiite militias having any role). If the campaign 'works', it is likely to serve as a blueprint for similar actions in Syria. Whilst the official line is that the assault is being led by the Iraqi army, the real operational command is in the hands of US special forces and Russian commanders, whilst the Shiite militias are under Iranian command. The Iranian commanders actively liase with both the Russian and the US control centres from the front line. There is little doubt that the city will be retaken but the real problem lies in the clean-up, with ISIS known to have created a network of very deep tunnels through which to maintain a guerilla campaign.

BAGHDAD — For the first time, Iraqi forces engaged Islamic State fighters within the city center of Ramadi on Tuesday, reaching the edge of the inner government district in an attempt to seize the critical western provincial capital after months of approach and maneuvering, officials said.

“We went into the center of Ramadi from different axes, and we started clearing residential areas,” Gen. Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the army counterterrorism unit in charge of the offensive, said in a statement Tuesday. He predicted that “the city will be cleared within the coming 72 hours.”

Six hundred to 1,000 Islamic State fighters were said to have been in Ramadi when the overall offensive began two weeks ago, but several hundred of them have been killed in fighting and airstrikes since then, according to Iraqi and Western officials.

Those remaining did not appear to be giving up easily. Iraqi forces, including a mix of soldiers and policemen along with a contingent of Sunni tribal fighters, faced heavy fire and were assaulted by car bombs, Iraqi officials said. And fighters for the Islamic State destroyed three bridges over the Euphrates River to slow the security forces’ advance, according to Gen. Ahmed al-Belawi, the leader of a battalion of Sunni tribal fighters. The force crossed on Tuesday using portable bridges supplied by American forces, officials said.