Iraqi government gives Ramadi citizens 72 hours to evacuate Published December 20th, 2015

[djgabrielie1]

Merry Christmas

 

[yota691]

World | Fri Dec 25, 2015 4:42am EST Related: WORLD, IRAQ Iraqi forces to retake Mosul from Islamic State after Ramadi secured: PM 

BAGHDAD Iraq's armed forces will move to retake the major northern city of Mosul from Islamic State once they capture the western city of Ramadi, Prime Minister Haider al­Abadi said on Friday. Capturing Mosul would deprive the militant group of its biggest population center in both Iraq and Syria, effectively abolishing the state structure of IS in Iraq, depriving it of a major source of funding and dealing a blow to its influence. The capture of Ramadi would give the army a major psychological boost in its move toward Mosul. The cities are about 420 km (260 miles) apart by road. Iraqi forces started an attack on Tuesday to dislodge Islamic State militants from the center of Ramadi, the last district under their control in the city they had captured in May. Islamic State seized Mosul, Iraq's second­largest city, in 2014, in an offensive that forced government forces to abandon a third of Iraqi territory.The group declared a caliphate over the Iraqi and adjacent Syrian Sunni populated territory it controls."The liberation of dear Mosul will be achieved with the cooperation and unity of all Iraqis after the victory in Ramadi," Abadi said in a statement on the state media website on Friday.Army commanders said on Wednesday that the battle for Ramadi would take several days. (Reporting by Saif Hameed; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

[yota691]

Iraqi forces close in on final Islamic State post in Ramadi by David Chambers on 26/12/2015 

The Iraqi air force and the U.S.-led worldwide coalition were providing air support to troops on ground and bombing IS targets, he said. Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province, was Islamic State's biggest prize of 2015, abandoned by government forces in May in a major setback for Baghdad that forced Washington to look hard at its strategy against the militants. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, though they bore the hallmarks of the IS, a Sunni militant group that has targeted Iraqi forces, civilians and especially Shiites. Iraqi army police and anti-terrorism troops, backed by Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft, engaged in heavy clashes with IS militants in Houz district which is adjacent to the government compound in central Ramadi, some 110 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Xinhua reported. Three days into the government assault, the militants are still entrenched in the centre of Ramadi, around the provincial government complex. Army commanders said on Wednesday the battle would take several days. Iraq's foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is reported as saying the assault will be slower than initially anticipated because of the presence of civilians living in Isis-controlled territory. "Our forces reached the Bakr neighbourhood". "I think the fall of Ramadi is inevitable", he said. The ultimate target of the government is to retake Mosul, a city with a pre-war population of close to 2 million. It would provide a major psychological boost to Iraqi security forces after the militant group seized a third of Iraq, a major OPEC oil producer and U.S ally, in a sweeping advance a year ago. "This is the huge fight for Ramadi", Warren stated. "To recover all the land from Daesh, to rebuild the residential areas, to return the displaced person are top priorities for everybody, foremost for the government's decision makers", said Sistani's representative Ahmed al-Safi, in a sermon in the holy Shia city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, broadcast on state TV. Chronicle Daily 

[yota691]

International Coalition: Preparation Daash within the city of Ramadi, not to exceed the 150 element

•  
  

 

Number of Views: 7 | 26-12-2015 02:26 PM

 

 

 

26-12-2015 02:26 PM 

 

A spokesman for the international coalition revealed to fighting al Daash in Iraq Steve Warren, on the number of elements of the organization who were inside the city of Ramadi, pointing to a decline in their numbers to a hundred and fifty element only. He said Warren that US planes launched nine air raids against al Daash sites in Ramadi yesterday evening, indicating that the air raids came a day after the US dropped a bomb about fifty fighters in the city in six air strikes. This is confirmed by the US Defense Department and the Pentagon that the international airline alliance, has stepped up air strikes against the organization in the city of Ramadi during the past two days.

[SocalDinar]

Anbar Council: ISIS destroys 80% of Ramadi, 10 years budget is needed to re-build the city

 

Dec 26, 2015

 

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Friday, Anbar Provincial Council announced, that the so-called ISIS destroyed 80% of the city of Ramadi (110 km west of Baghdad), while pointed out that the local government may need the budget of ten coming years to rebuild the city.

Anbar Provincial Council member Athal Fahdawi said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “80% of Ramadi is destroyed as a result of ISIS control over the city, in addition to the destruction of infrastructure, government and civilian buildings and bridges.”

Fahdawi added, “The government of Anbar may need the budget of ten coming years to rebuild the city, establish important projects and provide the necessary services.”

Noteworthy, Anbar Province has witnessed fierce battles, in addition to the control of ISIS elements over most of the province’s cities including Fallujah, Ramadi and western regions.

http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/anbar-council-isis-destroys-80-ramadi-10-years-budget-needed-re-build-city/

Edited December 26, 2015 by SocalDinar

[SnowGlobe7]

BUMP

 

Iraq has gained control of what is left of Ramiadi. Great news thanks Yota

[new york kevin]

Guess the current GOI had better get all of the estimated $80 billion to $150 billion USD Maliki and crew has siphoned off and use all of it to rebuild.

[yota691]

Analysis: Iraqi army is different from what it was al-Maliki and the last time .. Meters Ramadi is the most difficult

Sunday 27-12-2015 | 8:16:27

 

 

 

 

Army troops in Ramadi - Z p

 

Twilight News / General said, Mark Harthlng, said Iraqi forces that we see elements fighting organization "Daash," in the city of Ramadi different from what it was time the government of Nouri al-Maliki.

Said Harthlng a military analyst network CNN, "The biggest difference we see is a change in leadership at the tactical and operational level, in terms of driving forces now are the brigades and other ranks of the Iraqi army who have received training and have a sense of national They are fighting for the sake of Iraq now and not for the sake of Government or sectarian organization. "

He added: "We see progress of the Iraqi forces in the city of Ramadi, where they have areas of multiple processes, and tactically it has done a good job starting from outside the city to the inside and in the form of belts down to the city center where the chosen Daash this region to be the final battle site so to speak where booby-trapped buildings and took up sniper positions and to defend as well as tunnels and explosive devices planted on the edge of the roads, and therefore the last meters in this battle will be the most difficult. "

Harthlng and pointed out that "the Iraqi government used the Battle of Ramadi, Anbar province, the Sunni to prove that it familiar and comprehensive and not a sectarian government, such as those were at the time of Nuri al-Maliki."

[yota691]

Dec. 27, 2015 | 12:07 PM

Iraqi army prepares for final push to take Ramadi from ISIS

•  

Reuters

 

 

 

BAGHDAD: Iraqi troops were getting ready on Sunday for a final push to take the remaining district held by ISIS in the city of Ramadi, army spokesmen said.

Recapturing Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, would be one of the most significant victories for Iraq's armed forces since ISIS swept across a third of the country in 2014.

The soldiers are within 300 meters (330 yards) of the provincial government compound, the target of the attack they launched on Tuesday, Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counterterrorism force that is leading the fight on the government side, said.

"We expect to reach the compound in the next 24 hours," he told Reuters. "Booby trapped houses and roadside bombs are all over the streets, they have to be cleared; air surveillance is helping detect car bombs and suicide bombers before they get to us." 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 ISIS'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.

The Iraqi government forces are backed by air support from an international coalition led by the United States.

Shiite militias backed by Iran, which have played a major role in other offensive against ISIS, have been kept away by the Iraqi government from the battlefield in Ramadi to avoid sectarian tensions.

After Ramadi, the army plans to move to retake the northern city of Mosul, the biggest population center under ISIS control in Iraq and Syria.

Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to 2 million, would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents.

On another front in Anbar, the army took several positions in Nuaimiya, south of the city of Falluja, a bastion of the group that lies between Baghdad and Ramadi, killing 23 militants, the spokesman for the joint operations Brigadier Yahya Rasool said.

 

[gregp]

Pray for the brave troops!

[army03]

Freedom isn't Free

Some of us know that all to well.

[yota691]

Iraqi army declares victory over the Islamic state in Ramadi

 

 The Iraqi army said on Sunday that he defeated a state regulation? T? Islamic in Ramadi, capital of Anbar west of the country in the first major victory for the army since its collapse in front organization for al attack 18 months ago.

And leads victory in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, the Sunni-majority valley of the Euphrates River, located west of Baghdad, to deprive the militants of the Islamic State of the biggest prize they received in 2015.

 

The gunmen seized the organization Ramadi in May, after the defection of government troops in the defeat prompted Washington to reconsider its strategy towards the militants.

 

After encircling the city for several weeks, the Iraqi army launched a campaign last week to recover them and then progress in the last step to restore the government complex on Sunday.

 

Morning Nomani, spokesman for anti-terrorism, who leads the fighting in the ranks of government forces and said that control of the government complex means that the army defeated the organization in Ramadi. He added that the next step is to cleanse the sinuses that may exist "here or there in the city."

 

State television broadcast images of soldiers and tanks and Humvees during provided in the streets of Ramadi amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. And it looked some neighborhoods have been completely destroyed by the bombing and offered troops.

 

TV also broadcast images of the nighttime celebrations in the predominantly Shiite cities south of Baghdad, where citizens appeared dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from cars to celebrate the victory in Anbar.

 

Officials did not immediately announce any census of the number of people killed in the battle. The government has said that most of the civilian population were able to get out of the city before the attack.

 

And swept through the organization of the Islamic state, also known as Daash one-third of Iraq in June 2014 and declared the "succession" to the rule of Muslims under his control in Syria and Iraq areas and carried out the mass murder and dish radical idea.

 

Since then the war has led to the organization in the two countries to enter many regional and international powers and often in the form of alliances competing on the ground in a complex multilateral and civil wars.

 

And waging a US-led coalition air campaign on its fighters in the two countries, but the re-building of the Iraqi army to the point that make it able to restore land and stick to it is one of the biggest challenges.

 

In previous battles, including the restoration of the city of Tikrit, the hometown of the late President Saddam Hussein in April, the Iraqi government has relied on Shiite and Iranian-backed ground units to fight in the army, while the role of assistant.

 

But the army itself is gray regained this time without relying on units Shiite crowd the popular government which kept her away from the battlefield to avoid sectarian tension with the population and the majority of the year.

 

Nomani told Reuters the government complex became fully under the control of the army, pointing to the absence of any "Daash" fighters in the compound in any form.

 

After the gray army is planning to restore the city of Mosul in the north of the country, the largest agglomeration is subject to the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

 

Nomani said that the victory achieved in the gray must be a good news for the people of Mosul.

 

US officials are hoping to launch an attack on Baghdad, Mosul during 2015 but was postponed after the attack, gunmen broke into the gray.

 

And it will expel militants of the Islamic State of Mosul -alta means the population before the war nearly two million Nsmh- erase the structure of their state in Iraq, effectively depriving them of a major source of financing that comes in part from the oil and some other fees and taxes imposed on the population. 

[djgabrielie1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View photos

Smoke rises during an air strike in Ramadi city, December 25, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Iraqi army declares first major victory over Islamic State in Ramadi

By Ahmed Rasheed and Maher Chmaytelli

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's army declared victory over Islamic State fighters in a provincial capital west of Baghdad on Sunday, the first major triumph for the U.S.-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago.

The capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The fighters seized it in May after government troops fled in a defeat which prompted Washington to take a hard look at strategy in its ongoing air war against the militants.

After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military launched a campaign to retake it last week, and made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday.

"By controlling the complex this means that we have defeated them in Ramadi," said Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side. "The next step is to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city."

State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through Ramadi streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. Some districts appeared to have been completely destroyed by the advance.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State was unable to confirm at this point whether the militants had been cleared out of the government complex.

Television also showed nighttime celebrations in mainly Shi'ite cities south of Baghdad for the victory in Anbar, with people dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from cars.

Officials did not give any immediate death tolls for the battle. The government says most civilians were able to evacuate before it launched its assault.

Anbar provincial council member Falih al-Essawi called on the government to restore services to Ramadi quickly and start rebuilding the city to allow the return of the displaced.

"It will not be easy to convince families to return to a city that lacks basic human needs," he told Reuters.

Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, swept through a third of Iraq in June 2014 and declared a "caliphate" to rule over all Muslims from territory in both Iraq and Syria, carrying out mass killings and imposing a draconian form of Islam.

Its rise was aided by the swift collapse of the Iraqi army, which abandoned city after city, leaving fleets of armored vehicles and other American weapons in the fighters' hands.

Since then, the battle against the group in both countries has drawn in most global and regional powers, often with competing allies on the ground in complex multi-sided civil wars.

A U.S.-led coalition is waging an air campaign against Islamic State, but rebuilding the Iraqi army to the point that it could recapture and hold territory has been one of the biggest challenges.

In previous battles, including the recapture of former dictator Saddam Hussein's home city Tirkit in April, the Iraqi government relied on Iran-backed Shi'ite militias for ground fighting, with its own army mainly in a supporting role.

COMPLETE CONTROL

Ramadi was the first major city recaptured by the army itself, without relying on the militias, who were kept off the battlefield to avoid sectarian tension with the mainly Sunni population.

The government, led by a Shi'ite Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, said Ramadi would be handed over to local police and a Sunni tribal force once it was secured, a measure meant to win over the community to the fight against Islamic State.

"We have trained hundreds of tribal fighters, their role will be holding the ground," said Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command.

"Seeing their own tribes responsible for security will be a relief for the civilians" and will help convince those who have been displaced to return to the city, he added.

The strategy echoes the "surge" campaign fought by U.S. forces in 2006-2007 against a precursor of Islamic State, when Washington also relied on winning over local Sunni tribes and arming them to fight militants. Anbar province, including Ramadi, was one of the main battlefields during that campaign at the height of the 2003-2011 U.S. Iraq war.

 

[yota691]

Baghdad announces the control of the government complex in Ramadi

27/12 16:55 CET

 

 

 

 

•  
  

Iraqi security official announced abandoning militia organization called the "Islamic state" for the government complex in the center of Ramadi and the end of resistance to advancing government forces were able to remove them from the area, which it captured in the spring of the year two thousand and fifteen.

Iraqi security official said the troops will enter Baghdad government complex in the coming hours after the completion of combing the surroundings bomber mine, he said.

Iraqi forces continue military operation in Ramadi, Aptdotha last Tuesday for the restoration of the last bastions of the organization of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the area waiting for further progress toward Mosul, the strategic oil city, to be taken away from him.

This strikes the armed organization received air support from coalition aircraft which led Washington in the region.

The targeting of the organization Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also continuous sites in Syria, where he managed the Kurdish militias and armed groups opposed to Damascus on the ground to grab October actually a dam on the Euphrates River in the north of the country area. A strategic crossing used by al-Baghdadi in catering operations in the transfer of his fighters, as well as the fact that the dam supplying electric power source Aleppo area.

The successful organization named "Islamic state" in control of the dam in the spring of October last year after being sent armed militias opposition to Damascus in the region as the group called "Freedom Movement Sham."

[bkeiller]

Iraq Declares Victory Over Islamic State in Ramadi

By VICE News and Reuters

December 27, 2015 | 12:19 pm

Iraqi security forces said on Sunday they had defeated Islamic State fighters in the city of Ramadi, after taking control of a government complex that was the militants' last stronghold in the city.

Forces began storming the center of the city, a provincial capital just two hours' drive west of Baghdad, this week to try to dislodge Islamic State militants who had been holding Ramadi since May. Joint operations command spokesman Yahya Rasool told Reuters earlier that Iraqi forces had totally encircled the government complex in Ramadi, "clearing the buildings and streets around the complex of bombs in preparation to go in."

"By controlling the complex this means that they have been defeated in Ramadi," Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the force leading the fight on the government side, told Reuters. "The next step is to clear pockets that could exist here or there in the city."

"The complex is under our complete control, there is no presence whatsoever of Daesh fighters in the complex," he added, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or IS.

 

Related: Iraqi Troops Launch Attack To Take Back Ramadi From Islamic State

 

State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through Ramadi streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. Some districts appeared to have been completely destroyed by the advance, which was supported by US-led coalition airstrikes.

Television also showed nighttime celebrations in mainly Shi'ite cities south of Baghdad for the victory in majority-Sunni Anbar, with people dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from cars.

Soldiers advanced overnight on Saturday in the Hoz neighbourhood that houses the provincial government compound. Special operation commander Sami al-Aridhi had said the plan was "to liberate all of Ramadi from three sides."

Most remaining civilians in the IS-held central district had taken shelter in the city's hospital, knowing that the army would not target it, Rasool said. About 120 families were rescued from the combat zone on Saturday after securing safe routes for their exit and they were taken to a camp near Habbaniya, north of Ramadi, according to a military statement broadcast on state TV. Officials did not give any immediate death tolls for the battle. The government said most civilian residents of the city were able to evacuate before armed forces launched their assault.

If reports of the offensive's success are correct, Ramadi will become the second main Iraqi city to be retaken from IS after Tikrit was captured in April, making this one of the Iraqi military's most significant victories to date.

 

Related: Report Says Iraq's Shia Militias Laid Waste to Tikrit After Kicking Out the Islamic State

 

Officials said the complex would be handed over to the local police and to a Sunni tribal force once secured.

Watch the VICE News documentary Under Siege in Ramadi:

After Ramadi, the army plans to move to retake the northern city of Mosul, the biggest population center under IS control in Iraq and Syria. Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to 2 million, would effectively cripple their state-like structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents.

Shi'ite militias backed by Iran, which have played a major role in the Tikrit offensive against IS, have been kept away by the Iraqi government from the battlefield in Ramadi to avoid sectarian tensions.

 

Follow VICE News on Twitter: @vicenews

TOPICS: islamic state, ramadi, iraq, tikrit, war & conflict, 

https://news.vice.com/article/iraq-declares-victory-over-islamic-state-in-ramadi?utm_source=vicenewsfb

Edited December 27, 2015 by bkeiller

[Dinarian64]

This is really good (prep for attack to retake Ramadi), and bad (using citizens as human shields). If its so glorious to die in Jihad, why do these cowards want to kill innocent muslims in the process...? Sick mentality..!

Nicely said

[Reverse-Pumper]

Ramadi Has Been Liberated!

[Jaygo]

Ramadi Has Been Liberated!

BOOM!!

[djgabrielie1]

Ramadi Has Been Liberated!

I posted at 3:11 and somehow it just disappeared. So here is the link once again.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/iraqi-army-prepares-final-push-ramadi-islamic-state-101032461.html

[SnowGlobe7]

Is that a boat in post #33???

 

A boat in the desert? Hummmm strange to me

I posted at 3:11 and somehow it just disappeared. So here is the link once again.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/iraqi-army-prepares-final-push-ramadi-islamic-state-101032461.html

 

and your picture is gone again too my friend

[djgabrielie1]

Is that a boat in post #33???

 

A boat in the desert? Hummmm strange to me

 

and your picture is gone again too my friend

Yeah that's a boat alright. You must have caught me in the process of changing my picture. Peas kind of sums up how I feel about the investment right now. I think I'll sleep on it awhile. Going to be busy anyway. We sold the farm and are going to be moving in February.

[SnowGlobe7]

Where are ya moving to my friend?

[djgabrielie1]

Where are ya moving to my friend?

Looks as though we will be moving to Perdido Key or Orange Beach outside of Pensacola.

[SnowGlobe7]

Orange beach is where Hubby and I have looked more than once.....we really like it....all the white beach benefits without all the florida taxes....great choice!!!!

#jealous kitty

Edited December 28, 2015 by SnowGlobe7

[djgabrielie1]

Orange beach is where Hubby and I have looked more than once.....we really like it....all the white beach benefits without all the florida taxes....great choice!!!!

#jealous kitty

We really liked it too. I just don't wish to be to hasty about it yet. We will go again in January to see what has come on the market.Perhaps when the RV hits we can all live on the beach.