IS takeover of Ramadi setback for Iraq, US policy
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E-mail Xinhua, May 21, 2015
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Iraqi people who escaped from the area controlled by the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's Ramadi cross the Bzibz bridge in south Fallujah on their way to Baghdad on May 20, 2015. [Xinhua/Khalil Dawood] |
The fall of Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest Anbar province, to the hands of Islamic State (IS) militants is a big blow to both the U.S. policy and the Iraqi security forces who originally were preparing to free the territories held earlier by the extremist group.
The loss of Ramadi to the IS is a sign that the Unites States lacks a proper strategy to defeat the IS group in Iraq as the U.S. air strikes proved powerless to block a sophisticated IS offensive to capture Ramadi, Najib al-Jubouri, a political analyst, said.
"Once again, the Iraqi security forces left behind huge U.S. military equipment, including armored vehicles, artillery and other advanced weapons and ammunition. Just like what happened in Mosul in June last year," he said.
Jubouri added he was worried that the IS militants could go further and may infiltrate into the Iraqi capital of Baghdad as well as the holy Shiite city of Karbala to the south, despite the fact that such vital targets are considered red lines and are well protected by many thousands of security forces and powerful Shiite militias.
But, he attributed his concerns to the IS military tactics which have become familiar for observers and the Iraqi forces on the ground.
"The extremist militants usually carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks on its target, then infiltrates into the population and the defending forces, gradually gains control of some areas of the target, and then launches an assault on the rest of the target," Jubouri told Xinhua.
"This is what happened in Ramadi as well as when they seized Mosul and many other cities and towns across Iraq," he added.
Earlier this month, the group carried out attacks in Salahudin province and seized large parts of Iraq's largest oil refinery in Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, as well as the two oilfields of Allas and Ajil in east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.
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