Iraqi troops and volunteer fighters have made significant gains in their joint operation to retake areas from the Daesh Takfiri group in the western province of Anbar with military officials vowing that victory in the tough battle is very near.
Iraq’s Joint Operations Command for Anbar Province said in a statement on Wednesday that the pro-government forces have further closed in on the provincial capital of Ramadi, retaking a key bridge north of the city.
The statement said: “Great people, the hour of victory against the Daesh criminal gangs has come,” adding, “Your heroic forces are advancing steadily from the northern side... [and] they [have] managed to reach Albu Farraj area.”
Major General Ismail Mahalawi, who serves as the head of the Anbar command, said “Iraqi forces have raised the Iraqi flag on Albu Farraj bridge” over the Euphrates.
Over the past two weeks, units of the Iraqi army, backed by popular forces known as the Popular Mobilization Units, have been making advances around Ramadi, a city located 100 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad. Those gains have been mostly in the west and north of the city with Daesh terrorists forced back to the central neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake the town of Baiji and its highly significant refinery facility.
source : irib
