Reinforcements Arrive In Ramadi, As Iraqi Official Warns City Could Fall To IS
April 17, 2015
Around
3,000 fighters from the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization
Units) have reportedly arrived in the capital of Iraq’s Anbar Province,
Ramadi, after the deputy head of the Anbar Provincial Council warned
that the city could fall to Islamic State (IS) gunmen within hours.
IS
gunmen launched a major assault on April 15 on areas to the northeast
of Ramadi, overrunning several towns and villages. According to RFE/RL’s correspondent in Iraq, at least 13 security forces personnel were killed during the attack, as Iraqi troops withdrew.
RFE/RL’s
correspondent in Iraq reported on April 16 that most of Ramadi — around
80 percent — was under IS control, apart from four districts in the
center of the city, which include the city’s main government buildings —
the provincial governor’s office, the provincial council building, the
police department, the intelligence department, and the department of
education.
All
civilian officials have left the area, but the chief of police and the
commander of Anbar operations remained there with their officers, the
correspondent said.
IS
militants have attacked the government complex twice with car bombs.
The first attack came at around midnight on April 15 and the second
bombing came in the early morning on April 16. Four Iraqi police
officers were killed in the blasts, RFE/RL’s correspondent said.
Earlier on April 16, Arab news outlets reported that Iraqi forces had arrived in the Al-Sajaria area east of Ramadi to join tribal forces who are battling IS militants in the provincial capital.
On
April 15, CNN quoted Falih Essawi, the deputy head of Anbar’s
Provincial Council, as saying that security in Ramadi was “collapsing
rapidly” and that urgent support from the Iraqi military and security
forces was needed to save the city. “This is what we warned Baghdad was
going to happen,” Essawi told CNN.
Civilians Flee Ramadi As IS Advances
Reports
indicate that IS has overrun parts or all of three villages to the
north of Ramadi: Albu Ghanim, Sjariyah, and Soufiya. IS already controls
areas to the south of Ramadi.
The
IS onslaught in Ramadi has driven local residents out of their homes,
with thousands of families leaving the city and trying to make their way
to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and to Habbaniya, according to RFE/RL’s
correspondent.
Anbar
Provincial Council deputy Essawi told CNN that at least 150,000 people
had already fled since the morning of April 15. One local resident from
Albu Ghanim who spoke to CNN as he and his family walked east to Baghdad
said that four IS militants had entered his home and set up a sniper
position on the roof.
There
were unconfirmed reports on April 15 that IS had massacred a number of
local residents, mostly in the Albu Ghanim area, where local tribal
fighters had battled IS militants, RFE/RL’s correspondent reported.
Arabic news reports quoted unnamed local and security sources as saying
that IS militants had threatened to kill civilians particularly in Albu
Ghanim and Albu Faraj.
According
to Arabic news reports, security and local sources in Anbar said that
IS gunmen had blown up the home of the Iraqi electricity minister,
Qassim Fahdawi, in northeast Ramadi, in a symbolic message to the Iraqi
government.
IS militants have also planted booby traps and explosives in the homes of civilians who fled the fighting, the reports said.
Humanitarian Aid, Not Weapons
The IS advance into Ramadi came a day after U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $205 million in humanitarian aid to Iraq on April 14, but did not mention providing the additional military aid sought by Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi.
During
a meeting at the White House, Obama said Iraqi forces were better
equipped and trained since Abadi’s election last year, and that the
United States was improving military coordination with Iraq to ensure
the success of Iraqi troops against IS.
– Joanna Paraszczuk
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