The US is about to face a big test in Iraq 8/14
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The US is about to face a big test in Iraq 8/14
The US is about to face a big test in Iraq
Friday, 14 August 2015 15:40
Shafaq News/ We're about to see how successful US troop training has been in Iraq, Military and
Defense News said.
Iraqi security forces, trained and backed by the US, are preparing a final assault on the Sunni city
of Ramadi, a senior coalition official told Jim Michaels of USA Today.
The newspaper called it "the first significant test of American-trained forces against the Islamic
State" terror group (also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh).
A Pentagon spokeswoman described the operation as "a slow, methodical, deliberate advance
on the city" about 80 miles west of Baghdad.
About 10,000 troops, 3,000 of whom were trained by the US, will participate in the operation,
according to USA Today. It's likely that Iraqi forces will outnumber ISIS fighters, but it's unclear
exactly how many militants are in the city.
ISIS forces captured Ramadi in May and the militants have been entrenched in the city, located
about 80 miles from Baghdad, since then. Shia fighters backed by Iran planned to take back
Ramadi soon after the city fell, but ISIS still has a hold on the city.
Ramadi fell after ISIS militants overran the city with suicide car bombs. Even though ISIS was
outnumbered by Iraqi soldiers, the Sunni terror group was still able to seize control of the city
when troops protecting it fled.
Now that ISIS has spread out throughout Ramadi, it might be hard to rout them.
"Despite being outnumbered, the militants' defensive posture provides an advantage: They can
fire from bunkers and other concealed locations, and it will be difficult for the coalition to
bombard the militants, who can hide in an urban setting," USA Today noted.
The loss of Ramadi to the terrorists has had ripple effects throughout Iraq — many Sunni
residents of Ramadi who have tried to flee the city have been turned away as they reach
Baghdad, and some Sunnis are reluctantly supporting ISIS for their own survival because they
feel like they've run out of other viable options.
Michael Knights, an Iraq analyst, wrote in Foreign Policy this week that the war against ISIS in
Iraq has been "slowing down."
"The best that can be reasonably expected in 2015 is the stabilization of the cities of Ramadi and
Fallujah," Knights wrote. "No one even talks about liberating Iraq’s second-most populous city,
Mosul, anymore.
Mosul is a major stronghold for ISIS in Iraq that used to be a top priority for the US' plan to
defeat ISIS.
"At this rate, the United States will still be in Iraq when U.S. President Barack Obama leaves
office — an outcome no one, especially the president, wants," Knights wrote.
With a diminished US presence in Iraq and tight restrictions on what US forces are allowed to
do, it will be hard for troops to make quick progress against ISIS. The US train-and-equip
program has been slow going and air strikes have had a limited effect because of a lack of
spotters on the ground and strict rules of engagement, Knights wrote.
Brookings Institute fellow Charles Lister recently wrote a similarly negative assessment of the
war on ISIS. Lister noted that "progress thus far can best be described as a series of loosely
linked tactical gains, rather than a significant strategic advance."
"The stated coalition objective is to 'degrade and destroy' IS as a militant organization, but it
remains a potent armed force capable of capturing valuable territory and inflicting considerable
material damage on its adversaries," Lister wrote. "... IS is clearly a determined enemy and
poses a potent threat that the current coalition strategy is failing to effectively 'degrade and
defeat.'"
https://www.english.shafaaq.com/secur...t-in-iraq.html
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