News Digest

Thousands fleeing Islamic State are ‘barred from Baghdad’

Following the takeover of Ramadi, Baghdad is on high alert. Islamic State fighters have vowed to take the capital, and they are just 70 miles away. Over loudspeakers in the mosques, IS announced to their followers in Mosul that Baghdad would be in their control soon. At checkpoints, soldiers look for militants who may be trying to sneak in with displaced Iraqis. Dozens of new checkpoints have been set up around Baghdad, with names being checked against a database. The commander in charge admits there is a real threat but says his men are prepared.

I’m ready with my soldiers to fight and to protect my country. ISIS are trying to kill everyone, old people, children - my concern is to protect my citizens.

Brigadier Jabbar al Taee, who heads the 17th Division of the Iraqi army, speaking to Sky News

But with recent defeats, the Iraqi government and U.S. led coalition’s strategy for pushing back IS may be unravelling. There is a fear that the problem is not so much that IS is gaining in strength, but that there simply is not a force strong enough to confront them. The militants now control most of Anbar, the country’s largest province. In the past few days IS fighters have taken control not only of Ramadi, but also towns and villages around it, as well as the Albo Kamal crossing point between Iraq and Syria. The result has been a mass exodus of people forced to leave almost everything they own behind. It is mainly women and children walking miles to get to Baghdad in the heat and dust. Every displaced person has to register to be able to enter Baghdad. But if you don’t have a sponsor in the capital that can vouch for you then you are not let in. Thousands are stuck near the entrance with nowhere to go and little food or water.