Iraqi security forces have made advances on two fronts in the city of Ramadi, clearing Islamic State militants from a key military command base and a sprawling neighborhood on its western edge, army officials said.
Capture of the sprawling western Ramadi district of al-Taamim and the Anbar Operations Command headquarters on Wednesday (December 9) could advance government efforts to retake Ramadi which fell to Islamic State in May.
"Huge efforts and a huge victory. This victory adds to the victories which the Iraqi armed forces and the Iraqi army have achieved and God willing, in the coming days,
after purging the Anbar operation command building, there are plans by the joint operations command to liberate the centre of Ramadi City," said Iraqi joint operations spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool.
The centre of Ramadi remains under Islamic State control, but Rasool said the militants, which Iraqi intelligence estimates number between 250 and 300 fighters, are losing the initiative and suffering food and ammunition shortages after government forces cut their last supply line into the city last month.
The fall of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, in May was the biggest defeat for Iraq's weak central government in nearly a year, dampening its hopes of routing the Sunni militants from the country's north and west.
The Anbar Operations Command complex and Taamim neighborhood retaken by counter-terrorism forces are strategically significant because they overlook other parts of Ramadi which are still under the militants' control.
The Iraqi armed forces also said they had carried out air strikes on various locations in Anbar province, making use of new hardware.
"For the first time in Iraq and the Arab world, Chinese drones of the CH4 model have entered duty and we conducted operations using them more than two weeks ago covering vast areas, nearly 250 kilometers from the city of Baghdad, or more, giving us a strategic advantage over our enemy," said aviation commander, Hamid al-Maliki.
The United States said on Wednesday that it was prepared to deploy advisers and attack helicopters if requested by Iraq to help it "finish the job" of retaking the city of Ramadi from Islamic State.
Iraqi forces cut the hardline group's last supply line into Ramadi in November, surrounding the city and making it almost impossible for the militants to send in reinforcements.
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