Though much of the story around the fall of the Anbar Province capital of Ramadi in recent days has been predictions of Iraq retaking the city, the reality is ISIS is continuing its eastward advance.
Early in the day, Iraqi forces reported they were exchanging mortar fire with ISIS forces east of the city, and had held them off, but by evening police commanders confirmed they’d been overrun entirely by ISIS.
Iraq had tried to set up a defensive line in Husaiba, just six miles east of the city, and have fallen back even further since then, with police commanders saying they need reinforcements to even hold them off.
To put the mounting losses in perspective, Anbar is just 70 miles east of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad itself, and ISIS is making gains along a highway that threatens to put them within firing distance of western Baghdad.
I think Anbar is actually 70 miles WEST of Baghdad…but I'm a stickler for facts based in reality and besides, all those east/west/up/down things are so confusing.
The lede is that it is 70 miles from Baghdad.
Interesting that the two articles you cited tell two different stories. The first from The Star dated yesterday at about 10 am brags that the Iraqi military stopped ISIS in Huisaba. The second from Reuters dated yesterday at 3:42 states that ISIS overran the Iraqis in Huisaba. I guess a lot can happen in 4 hours.