Iraq claws back land from IS near Ramadi after bloody battle

Iraqi forces retook territory from the Islamic State group east of Ramadi late Saturday night, commanders said, in their first counterattack since the jihadists’ capture of the Anbar provincial capital last week. In Iraq, a mosaic of anti-IS forces have massed in the Euphrates Valley to ready for an offensive aimed at turning the tide on the rampant jihadists. The May 17 takeover of Ramadi was Baghdad’s worst defeat in almost a year. Security officials said an operation was launched early Saturday to retake Husaybah, a town 4.5 miles east of Ramadi in the Euphrates Valley, that IS had seized earlier in the week.

The Husaybah area is now under full control and the forces are now advancing to liberate neighbouring Jweibah.

a police colonel told AFP from the front

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