The Battle For Ramadi Destroyed The City

New York Times: Ramadi, Reclaimed by Iraq, Is in Ruins After ISIS Fight

RAMADI, Iraq — As his armored vehicle bounced along a dirt track carved through the ruins of this recently reconquered city on Wednesday, Gen. Ali Jameel, an Iraqi counterterrorism officer, narrated the passing sites.

Here were the carcasses of four tanks, charred by the jihadists of the Islamic State. Here, a police officer’s home that the jihadists had blown up. Here, a villa reduced to rubble by an airstrike. And another. And another.

In one neighborhood, he stood before a panorama of wreckage so vast that it was unclear where the original buildings had stood. He paused when asked how residents would return to their homes.

“Homes?” he said. “There are no homes.”

The retaking of Ramadi by Iraqi security forces last week has been hailed as a major blow to the Islamic State and as a vindication of the Obama administration’s strategy to fight the group by backing local ground forces with intensive airstrikes.

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WNU Editor: This reminds me of what they use to say about Vietnam. "To save the village we had to destroy it".

Iraq's War Against The Islamic State Is Intensifying

VOA: Official: US-led Airstrikes Kill 2,500 IS Militants in December

U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria killed about 2,500 militants in December, a military spokesman said.

Colonel Steve Warren told reporters that since coalition airstrikes began in September 2014, Islamic State has lost at least 20,000 square kilometers of land it once controlled. He said IS has not gained any land since May of last year.

"We believe ISIL is now in a defensive crouch," Warren said using another acronym for IS. "If you're part of ISIL, we will kill you. That's our rule"

More News On Iraq's War Against The Islamic State

'About 2,500' IS fighters killed in Iraq and Syria last month -- AFP
About 2,500 IS fighters killed in Iraq and Syria last month, says US official -- Your Middle East
U.S., allies stage 19 strikes in Iraq against Islamic State: statement -- Reuters
ISIL launches major assault on Iraq's Haditha -- Al Jazeera
IS Steps Up Assault on Western Iraqi Town After Losses -- AP
'Squad-size' ISIS units remain in Ramadi -- Military Times
Report: ISIS 'War Minister' killed in Iraq -- Arutz Sheva
Armoured ISIS death machines: Islamists using steel-plated bulldozers packed with explosives to carry out suicide attacks on Iraqi security forces -- Daily Mail
ISIS in TURMOIL as terror group loses huge swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria -- Express
Islamic State Territory In Iraq, Syria Shrank 30 Percent In 2015 -- RFE
Islamic State on the run as terror army loses 40 percent of its Iraqi territory -- Washington Times
Fears of more Iraq strife as regional Sunni-Shiite row escalates -- AFP
Analysis: Iraq-Syria Battlespace -- Stratfor

Dogs Are Eating The Heads Of Dead Islamic State Fighters In Ramadi

Daily Mail: Survivors of ISIS Ramadi siege say the streets are filled with 'dogs eating the heads of Islamic State fighters' after battle to reclaim the city left it unrecognisable

* City of Ramadi recaptured by Iraqi government forces last week
* Survivors now reveal the devastation left behind from ISIS siege
* Witnesses say there's been no food or water and homes are destroyed

Survivors of the battle of Ramadi have revealed the devastation left behind after Iraqi government forces reclaimed the city from ISIS militants last week.

The provincial captial of Anbar, some 70miles west of Baghdad, had been under ISIS control since May last year, but now only a handful of fighters remain in the city.

Civilians who have escaped the city say they had been without food for months and that only dogs now roam the streets of Ramadi, feeding on the bodies of dead ISIS militants.

WNU Editor: I wish they said pigs instead of dogs. Stories about life under ISIS in Ramadi are now coming out .... Escape from Ramadi: I fed children sleeping pills to stop their tears (CNN). More here .... ISIS tunnels: How ISIS militants evade airstrikes in Ramadi (CNN). If the above video from the BBC is any indication .... the battle for Ramadi is not really over.