Still hoping to fulfill their pledge to capture the Anbar Province capital city of Ramadi by the end of the year, Iraqi troops advanced against the central part of the city, with reports of fierce fighting against ISIS forces who are still defending the district where the government buildings are.
ISIS captured Ramadi back in May, and Iraqi troops have spent the last seven months attempting to surround it, with the hope of eventually retaking it. Officials now say they believe they will have a full victory in “a few days.”
Details are still emerging, but Iraqi Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool claimed “dozens” of ISIS fighters had been killed. He refused to provide any casualty estimates on the government side, but they reported facing sniper fire as well as suicide bombers.
The US has offered “advisers” and attack helicopters for the battle, but Iraq refused. Iraqi officials say the primary difficulty was crossing the Euphrates River after ISIS blew up the bridge, but their army engineers have since repaired it and advanced again.
Whenever I see headlines like this, I always say "famous last words"! Those of us old enough to remember Vietnam will recall that victory was always just around the corner. One more push! The US militray was forever "clearing" the Viet Cong out of this or that area only to have them pop up again as soon as the soldiers left. There's no way of beating an insurgency.
It's delusional in the first place that defeating ISIS or the Taliban will end terrorism. Even if defeated, these organizations will just remain underground.