An Iraqi soldier carries a displaced woman to help her cross the bridge at the outskirts of Baghdad, Tuesday. Iraqi forces deployed tanks and artillery around Ramadi to confront Daesh fighters who have captured the city in a major defeat for the Baghdad government and its Western backers. — Reuters
BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces said they fought off an overnight attack by Daesh (so-called IS) militants near the city of Ramadi, which the insurgents overran at the weekend in the most significant setback for the government in a year. Daesh is seeking to consolidate its gains in the vast desert province of Anbar, of which Ramadi is capital, where only isolated pockets of territory remain under government control. The Daesh advance has exposed the shortcomings of Iraq's army and the limitations of US airstrikes. Government forces backed by Shiite militias have meanwhile been building up at a base near Ramadi in preparation for a counterattack to retake the city, where Daesh forces have taken over tanks and artillery and large amounts of ammunition abandoned by fleeing Iraqi forces. There are fears in Washington and elsewhere that the fighting in Iraq will become a polarizing clash between Shiites and Sunnis as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, a Shiite, becomes increasingly dependent on the Iranian-backed Shiite militias to step in where the Iraqi military has failed. Daesh fighters attacked government forces in the town of Husaiba Al-Sharqiya, about halfway between Ramadi and the Habbaniya military base where militia fighters have assembled, police and pro-government forces said. "Daesh (Islamic State) attacked us around midnight after a wave of mortar shelling on our positions," Amir Al-Fahdawi, a leader of the pro-government Sunni tribal force in the area, told Reuters on Wednesday. "This time they came from another direction in an attempt to launch a surprise attack, but we were vigilant and, after around four hours of fighting, we aborted their offensive," he added. The Habbaniya base is midway between Ramadi and the town of Fallujah, which has been under Daesh control for more than a year and is 50 km from the Iraqi capital. Daesh appears to be trying to join up Ramadi and Fallujah by taking territory between the two towns. "They want to occupy more of Anbar," said Sabah Karhout, head of the Anbar provincial council. "Their primary aim it to connect Ramadi to Fallujah." As pressure mounted for action to retake Ramadi, a local government official urged citizens to join the police and the army to join what Shiite militiamen have said will be the "Battle of Anbar". Daesh fighters have set up defensive positions and laid landmines, witnesses in Ramadi said. The group's black flags are flying over the main mosque and other buildings. The White House said a US-led air campaign would back Iraqi forces in their attempt to regain Ramadi, whose fall exposed the limits of US air power in its battle against the radicals in both Iraq and Syria. Sectarian hostility Abadi's decision to send in the militia, known as Hashid Shaabi or Popular Mobilization, to try to retake the predominantly Sunni city of Ramadi could stir up further sectarian hostility in one of the most violent parts of Iraq. Ramadi was Daesh's biggest success since it captured the northern city of Mosul last year and declared itself a caliphate. While it has been forced to give ground in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town, and in the Syrian city of Kobani, the group still controls large areas of Iraq and Syria. — Reuters
