‘Ramadi is liberated’: Iraq flag flies over former ISIS stronghold once more

The Iraq army claims to have captured the key city of Ramadi, in a major victory against Islamic State. After encircling the city for weeks, the Iraqi military made a final push to seize the central administration complex on Sunday. Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces raised the Iraqi flag above the complex on Monday, according to a military spokesman. A US defence official said it was so far unable to confirm the Iraqis’ claims.

Yes, the city of Ramadi has been liberated.

Brigadier General Yahya Rasool

The capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, would deprive IS militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The Iraqi army had already retaken the city of Tikrit from the jihadists in the spring. The final stronghold for IS in Iraq is Mosul in the north, which the government is likely to target next. State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through Ramadi streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. Some districts appeared to have been completely destroyed by the advance.

It will not be easy to convince families to return to a city that lacks basic human needs.

Anbar provincial council member Falih al-Essawi

Middle East Ramadi