Iraq Claws Back Land From IS Near Ramadi

(MENAFN- Arab Times) Iraqi forces retook territory from the Islamic State group east of Ramadi Saturday, 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, while the capture three days later of the historic Syrian city of Palmyra has put its archaeological treasures in peril and positioned IS for a possible drive on Damascus. Security officials said an operation was launched early Saturday to retake Husaybah, a town seven kms (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. The area's most prominent Sunni tribal leader, Sheikh Rafia Abdelkarim al-Fahdawi, deployed his forces, whose knowledge of the terrain is key, alongside fighters from the Hashed al- Shaabi, an umbrella for Shiite militia and volunteers.

The police colonel said the Husaybah operation also involved local and federal police, the interior ministry's rapid intervention force as well as the army. Swift action was seen as essential to prevent IS from laying booby traps across Ramadi, which would make any advance in the city more risky and complicated. But government and allied forces were also keen to prevent further losses as IS used its momentum after seizing Ramadi to take more land to the east of the city. "What happened in Anbar is very similar to what happened last year in Diyala, Mosul and Salaheddin," said Ahmed al-Assadi, spokesman of the Hashed al-Shaabi (popular mobilisation).

He was referring to the debacle of security forces when IS-led fighters swept across Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland in June last year, bringing Iraq to the brink of collapse. Some Iraqi forces were criticised for avoiding battle during the fall of Ramadi, which led Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi to call in the Hashed al-Shaabi. He and Washington had opposed the mass deployment in the Sunni province of Anbar of militia groups with direct ties to Iran and a dubious human rights record. However, the strategy of US-led coalition air strikes while the security apparatus gets revamped has failed to keep up with the pace of IS advances. Washington tried to remain upbeat after the loss of Ramadi and Palmyra, playing down the IS advance as tactical setbacks. The jihadists, who now control roughly half of Syria, reinforced their selfdeclared transfrontier "caliphate" by seizing Syria's Al-Tanaf crossing on the Damascus-Baghdad highway late Thursday. Fabrice Balanche, a French expert on Syria, said "IS now dominates central Syria, a crossroads of primary importance" that could allow it to advance towards the capital and third city Homs. The United States and its allies have staged 22 air strikes on Islamic State targets since Friday, including four near Ramadi, the city taken by the militants this week, the US military said on Saturday.

Forces
Coalition forces also attacked five Islamic State sites in Syria between Friday and Saturday, a statement from the Combined Joint Task Force said. The strikes near Ramadi hit tactical units, armored vehicles and a fighting position in militant-controlled territory. Ramadi fell to Islamic State on Sunday in a serious setback for Iraqi forces that also cast doubt on the US strategy of using mainly air strikes against the militants. The other US-led attacks in Iraq were near the cities of Al Asad, Bayji, Fallujah, Haditha, Kirkuk, Makhmur, Mosul, Sinjar and Tal Afar. Islamic State tactical units, vehicles, fighting positions, heavy machine guns and buildings were hit. In neighboring Syria, air strikes near Al Hasakah, Dayr Az Zawr, Kobani and Tadmur destroyed fighting positions, a tank and six anti-aircraft artillery systems, the joint task force said. Islamic State group fighters have entered the museum in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra, placing guards at its doors, the country's antiquities director Mamoun Abdulkarim said Saturday.

Abdulkarim also confirmed the jihadist group had raised its flag over the ancient citadel that overlooks some of the spectacular Greco-Roman ruins in the city. Speaking at a news conference in Damascus, he said some modern plaster statues in the museum had been destroyed but he did not report any damage to antiquities in the building. The jihadists on Thursday "entered the museum and broke some plaster statues " that were being used to represent life in prehistoric eras." They returned on Friday, and when they left, "they closed the doors behind them and placed their guards" at the entrance of the museum, Abdulkarim said, citing residents still in the town. Most of the antiquities in the museum were removed and brought to Damascus before IS cemented its control of Palmyra on Thursday. "There's almost nothing left in the museum. We had been progressively transferring the antiquities to Damascus," he told AFP after the news conference. "But there are still the large items, like the sarcophagi, which weigh three or four tonnes and we could not move. Those are what worry me." The Roman-Byzantine sarcophagi feature high-relief carvings. Abdulkarim also confirmed IS fighters had raised their black flag over the 13th century Mamluk Fakhr al-Din al-Maani citadel that overlooks the ruins of Palmyra. Earlier, a photograph purporting to show the IS flag over the citadel was circulated on social media, but it was not possible to confirm its authenticity. Both the citadel and the ruins are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and before the war some 150,000 tourists a year visited Palmyra. "There has been no movement (of IS) in the archaeological site," Abdulkarim said, referring to the main ruins in the city, including its famed colonnaded streets and extensive necropolis.

The arrival of IS in Palmyra has caused international concern about the fate of the city's historical treasures, because the group has destroyed heritage sites in areas under its control in neighbouring Iraq. "I hope that they do not repeat the same destruction they committed in Iraq," Abdulkarim said. "We will consider measures to prevent them from destroying Syrian cultural heritage." A Syrian activist who identifies himself as Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi said "traffic was back to normal" on Saturday in Palmyra and that regime warplanes did not bombard the city. Speaking to AFP, he said the jihadists had allowed motorists to drive to the IS stronghold of Raqa, further north, to stock up on vegetables. Homsi said IS fighters had used loudspeakers at mosques to tell government employees to return to work as well as order women to wear the niqab - a veil that covers the face. Syria's official SANA news agency reported, meanwhile, that regime warplanes carried out a series of raid on IS targets east of the central province of Homs "killing terrorists" and destroying equipment. Iran has entered the fight to retake a major Iraqi oil refinery from Islamic State militants, contributing small numbers of troops, including some operating artillery and other heavy weapons in support of advancing Iraqi ground forces, US defense officials said Friday.

Two US defense officials said Iranian forces have taken a significant offensive role in the Beiji operation in recent days, in conjunction with Iraqi Shiite militia. The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. One official said Iranians are operating artillery, 122mm rocket systems and surveillance and reconnaissance drones to help the Iraqi counteroffensive. The Iranian role was not mentioned in a new US military statement asserting that Iraqi security forces, with US help, had managed to establish a land route into the Beiji refinery compound. The statement Friday by the US military headquarters in Kuwait said Iraqis have begun reinforcing and resupplying forces isolated inside the refinery compound.

Iran's role in Iraq is a major complicating factor for the Obama administration as it searches for the most effective approach to countering the Islamic State group. US officials have said they do not oppose contributions from Iran-supported Iraqi Shiite militias as long as they operate under the command and control of the Iraqi government. Friday's US military statement quoted Brig Gen Thomas Weidley as saying that over the past three days Iraqi security forces and federal police have made "steady, measured progress" in regaining some areas leading to the Beiji refinery compound, in the face of suicide vehicleborne bombs and rocket attacks. Weidley, chief of staff of the US-led military headquarters in Kuwait, recently described the oil refinery as a "key infrastructure and critical crossroads."