Islamic State raises flag over local govt building in Iraq's Ramadi

BAGHDAD, May 15 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants raised their black flag over the local government compound in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Friday and claimed victory through mosque loudspeakers after overrunning most of the western provincial capital.

The insurgents attacked Ramadi overnight using six suicide car bombs to reach the city centre, where the Anbar governorate compound is located, police sources said.

Fighting continued on Friday in parts of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, and government forces were still in control of a military command centre to the west of the city - the capital of Iraq's largest province.

If Ramadi were to fall completely to Islamic State it would be a strategic blow to Prime Minister Haider

Islamic State raises flag over local govt building in Iraq's Ramadi

Looks like there has been a big push from ISIS to take Ramadi and at this point, they have been successful at doing so. I can't imagine they will last very long there, but that is a pretty big blow. Still baffled at how the US has consistently said that IS is nothing to worry about, yet here we are with them taking over cities and oil refineries....next stop is likely trying to take Baghdad....

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Ya im sure US wants no part since they completely failed in their attempts at whatever they were doing over there...thus creating ISIS accidentally and how would you sell it to the public you needed to go back over there for another 10 years of war.

Reuters article on the situation states:

Source

An army major whose regiment is positioned near the Anbar operations command described the situation as critical and said the militants had taken control of the only major supply route into the city, making it difficult to send reinforcements.

Most army and police units have retreated to the area around the operation command to protect it, he said, but some elite counter-terrorism forces are "fighting for their lives" in the Malaab district of central Ramadi, where they are surrounded.

“If the government does not send any reinforcements and the coalition air force does not rescue us, I can confirm we will lose all Ramadi by midnight," the major said. "A massacre will take place and all of us will be slaughtered. We have been defending the city for months and we don’t deserve to end like this. It’s humiliating."

Ramadi is one of a small handful of towns and cities in Anbar to have remained under government control. The rest of the vast desert province bordering Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan, is held by Islamic State.

The militant group said it had stormed Ramadi's provincial government compound and taken control after "eliminating the apostates" who remained inside.

The offensive began in the early hours of Friday, with the militants using an armoured bulldozer to remove blast walls blocking the road to the police department adjacent to the governorate building and blew the vehicle up when it reached there.

A Humvee packed with explosives targeted the education department, situated in the same compound, and a third car bomb was detonated at the western entrance to the governorate building itself.

Three more car bombs blew up near the Anbar Operations Command.

Six car bombs back to back....dayum.

Sounds like they have all but given up on help with the main transports being completely cut off....

originally posted by: rockpaperhammock
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Ya im sure US wants no part since they completely failed in their attempts at whatever they were doing over there...thus creating ISIS accidentally and how would you sell it to the public you needed to go back over there for another 10 years of war.

The U.S. Didn't create Isis. Extremist don't need creating , there were extremist before the U.S. Came into play.

The U.S. has done some seriously stupid things , but you can't blame them for every psychotic ideological group the crops up.

That's like blaming the U.S. For the murderous viet-cong.

a reply to: Lgbtlivesmatter

I disagree...they created them accidentally by making Iraq unstable. I am not saying they intentionally created them for nefarious reasons...it is just a casualty of war. They took down Saddam and Iraq basically had a civil war with more people choosing the extremist side.

Simple question...was Iraq this bad with Saddam? If your answer is no then I think it is safe to say the main variable that caused this change was the destabilization of Iraq which was inadvertently caused by the usa.

Im not trying to be an anti usa naysayer...im really just making an observation and of course it is only my opinion


Edit: Oh and to be fair this was Assad's fault as well....a little combination of both the USA and Syria.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

They won't take Baghdad, IS is taking mostly Sunni areas as the predominantly Shea army, has no interest in bleeding and dying for Sunnis. Baghdad is Shea though, that won't happen, nor would Iran let it happen.

originally posted by: camain
a reply to: Vasa Croe

They won't take Baghdad, IS is taking mostly Sunni areas as the predominantly Shea army, has no interest in bleeding and dying for Sunnis. Baghdad is Shea though, that won't happen, nor would Iran let it happen.

Exactly. The face state of Iraq created 100 years ago by the British with a map and ruler is bound to dismember at some point into its natural parts. I bet the Kurds are behind the scenes looking on with glee as a Kurdish state will rise from this.

originally posted by: ufoorbhunter

originally posted by: camain
a reply to: Vasa Croe

They won't take Baghdad, IS is taking mostly Sunni areas as the predominantly Shea army, has no interest in bleeding and dying for Sunnis. Baghdad is Shea though, that won't happen, nor would Iran let it happen.

Exactly. The face state of Iraq created 100 years ago by the British with a map and ruler is bound to dismember at some point into its natural parts. I bet the Kurds are behind the scenes looking on with glee as a Kurdish state will rise from this.

Very good point...I am not sure where the Kurds stand in all this...but ya...they have wanted a place to call their own for quite some time. Considering when America was there they were being trained to fight against the Iraq Army where now...why would they try to stop ISIS...they possibly can carve out their own kingdom in the near future.

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Turkey won't allow a Kurdish state, however, I can very much see the Kurds working with the Shea to stomp the Sunnis, I mean IS. That said, the more IS stomps Assad, the more desperate he will get. I see him gassing them back to the Stone Age, soon. I can see Assad aligning himself with the Kurds to hurt IS.

originally posted by: camain
a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Turkey won't allow a Kurdish state, however, I can very much see the Kurds working with the Shea to stomp the Sunnis, I mean IS. That said, the more IS stomps Assad, the more desperate he will get. I see him gassing them back to the Stone Age, soon. I can see Assad aligning himself with the Kurds to hurt IS.

Another great point indeed...the Kurds are the most interesting in all this...as rogues usually are.. I feel bad for them honestly...they are stuck in a hard place as usual. They will have the option to align with sunni's or shia/#e/shea however the hell its spelled. I haven't really read much about them during all this but that would make for a great article if some journalist was over there...What do the Kurds think of all this.....

And Turkey as well was responsible for arming ISIS back when they were supporting the Nusra front...Even though they were a "terrorist" group at the time they were needed so the usa and turkey backed them...

a reply to: Vasa Croe
They're still raising their sicko flags?
Obama should have got all US drones reprogrammed to search for those flags and launch hellfire whenever they find one IMO.

It ain't rocket science-well maybe it is sort of.

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Totally agree. The dismemberment of Iraq now has to be a done deal. There is no way a unified state ruled from Baghdad is going to work. I can't stop thinking that this is payback for Kurdish support for Israel. Israel and Kurds always had a strong relationship in northern Iraq, was ISIS backed by Israel to destroy any notion of a unified Iraq thus giving the Kurds basically independence?

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Kurds hate ISIL, according to IS, Kurds are worse the. Infidels cause they have a mashup of Islam and paganism as a religion. The Shia/Shea, whatever spell check will let me spell it, comes down to who should be the leader of the faith, Mohammad's son and their decendants, or his brother. So ISIL will still kill the Shia, but their more interested in scourging the Christians, Kurds, etc out of their areas. That's why the Kurds are fighting them toe to toe, and if the USA would arm them instead of the Shias they would put those weapons to use. The problem is turkey doesn't want the Kurds armed because 1/3 of turkey is Kurdish. A strong armed militia that has money and influence and arms can start arming the Kurds in turkey and lead to a revolt. The Turks job st put down one revolt 20 years ago, and right now turkey has the gates to the Black Sea and Crimea, if we piss off turkey, they can change their policies toward Russian and really screw mayo for south east Europe.

a reply to: camain

I know of those ex us soldiers fighting with the Kurds against ISIS...im curious of how many kurdish tribes there are and if all are involved. I know they united pretty well when SF was there training them. I'm curious too if the usa still has SF there training them. Be a great place to start for combating ISIS and the truth is...Islam has to take care of Islam.

Appears Ramadi has now fallen under IS. Sad days ahead....hopefully Baghdad is awake and ready.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

We need to stop playing games any territory taken by Isis should be bombed until firestorm as far as I'm concerned the death for the unwilling conquered would be more merciful , the,conquered have assimilated they have had their sons they have been conquered therefore they are already casualty's

Several news agencies have confirmed this story tonight.

Islamic State won't take over Baghdad or Damascus until they're absolutely ready.

Because they know that the second they do, they're responsible for the entire country of Iraq or Syria, and they're not ready for Government yet.

When they take Baghdad, it's only a matter of time before they set their sights on Saudi Arabia, and likely sooner rather than later.

a reply to: babybunnies

Islamic State won't take over Baghdad or Damascus until they're absolutely ready.

I just wouldn't make any assumptions like this.