Iraqis celebrate victory in Ramadi over Islamic State
BAGHDAD — Iraqis on Tuesday celebrated the biggest victory against the Islamic State since the extremist group seized chunks of their country last year: The recapture of Ramadi's city center.
Some people created traffic jams driving back into the heavily bombed-out city. Others flooded the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere in the country, carrying Iraqi flags and portraits of Iraqi military leaders and shooting off fireworks. The jubilation reflected a yearning to beat back the extremists that had been pent up for months.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took a victory tour of Ramadi on Tuesday, one day after Iraqi government forces retook a key government complex, and vowed to liberate other areas of the country controlled by the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
Iraq retakes central Ramadi from Islamic State
"We congratulate all Iraqis on our victory against Daesh,” al-Abadi said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State that the militants consider an insult. “We will keep going after them until we clear this land of them.”
Al-Abadi specifically addressed the residents of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which came under Islamic State control in June 2014, during the militant group's blitzkrieg to occupy much of northern Iraq. The militants' ongoing occupation of Mosul has been a major embarrassment for the Iraqi government.
“My message to our people in Mosul is Daesh will be defeated exactly the way they were defeated in Ramadi,” al-Abadi said. “They promised to stand in Ramadi, but they were cowards. They didn't fight. They fled. We will keep chasing them."
Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province about 80 miles west of Baghdad, fell under Islamic State control in May, marking a major setback for Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led campaign against the extremist group.
Many Iraqis said winning back Ramadi restored their confidence in al-Abadi and the government’s soldiers. Last year, dispirited Iraqi troops retreated as Islamic State fighters advanced to gain a stronghold in the country and parts of Syria.
"Victory in Ramadi gives me hope in this country,” said Saif Mohamad, 33, a Baghdad electrician. "Now I feel like the Iraqi army is recovering. People now trust the security forces after this achievement.”
Mohamad said it was a dark day when the Islamic State overran Ramadi, a city where American forces fought bloody battles against insurgents during the eight-year U.S. intervention in Iraq.
"When Ramadi fell, I was working at the house of one of my customers,” Mohamad recalled. “He was willing to fix his house and spend lots of money, but when he heard the news about how the Iraqi army was defeated there, he said to me, ‘Please stop working. I won't waste my money. The country is collapsing.’"
Mosul native Ali al Muslawi — who now works at a café in east Baghdad — welcomed the prime minister's remarks about retaking his hometown. Al Muslawi fled Mosul before the Islamic State consolidated its grip in that city.
"Today, for the first time, I feel proud of our army,” al Muslawi said. “They let us down when they left us before in Mosul. We left everything there — our house and jobs. My biggest happiness will be when they liberate my city.”
The Iraqi military forces must first finish their work in Ramadi. Troops must still clear bombs from the streets and buildings left by the militants and occasionally encounter Islamic State snipers and fighters on the outskirts of the city. Sunni members of tribal militias were deployed to the region around Ramadi to maintain security and prevent Islamic State militants from returning, the Iraqi military said.
Al-Abadi was confident those problems won't stand in the way of Baghdad reasserting control there, saying rebuilding Ramadi is the first order of business.
“Today, Ramadi has been freed (but) look what happened to the city,” al-Abadi said amid the many destroyed buildings. “We will reconstruct the city to bring the displaced back to their homes under the protection of Iraqi security forces.”
