Posted on 05/25/2015 5:53:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Iraqi forces recaptured territory from advancing Islamic State militants near the recently-fallen city of Ramadi on Sunday, while in Syria the government said the Islamists had killed hundreds of people since capturing the town of Palmyra.
The fall of Ramadi and Palmyra, on opposite ends of the vast territory controlled by ISIS fighters, were the militant group's biggest successes since a US-led coalition launched an air war to stop them last year.
The near simultaneous victories against the Iraqi and Syrian armies have forced Washington to examine its strategy, which involves bombing from the air but leaving fighting on the ground to local forces in both countries.
In a sharp criticism of Washington's ally, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter accused Iraq's army of abandoning Ramadi, a provincial capital west of Baghdad, to much smaller enemy force.
"The Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight," he told CNN's State of the Union program. "They vastly outnumbered the opposing force, and yet they withdrew from the site."
Iraq's government, along with Iran-backed Shi'ite militiamen and locally-recruited Sunni tribal fighters, launched a counter-offensive on Saturday, a week after losing Ramadi. A police major and a pro-government Sunni tribal fighter in the area said they had retaken the town of Husaiba al-Sharqiya, about 10 km (6 miles) east of Ramadi.
"Today we regained control over Husaiba and are laying plans to make more advances to push back Daesh fighters further," said local tribal leader Amir al-Fahdawi, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State, also known in English as ISIS.
"The morale of the (pro-government) fighters is high after the arrival of reinforcements and loads of ammunition," Fahdawi said. "Today's advance will speed up the clock for a major advance to regain control of Ramadi."
Planes were bombing ISIS positions on the opposite bank
(Excerpt) Read more at christiantoday.com ...
Its obvious iraqis won’t fight for the preservation of iraq. So why are we still involved?
Don’t worry, Obama and Hillary have a plan . . .
Who’s “we”? 0dumbo is secretly trying to nudge Iraq into the hands of Iran.
ISIS cannot stand up to regular infantry and regular troops. There are simply not enough of them.
Why does the Western Media make these guys out to be the next coming of the SS? A couple of good punches in the nose and they will scramble like roaches.
My stance has been for months...and continues to be...that we (the US public) are getting played by this so that we will cry out. Don’t fall for it.
Hard to say why folks with advanced war skills and experience of “tribal” middle east, can’t figure out how to have a battalion of sunni to fight in sunni territory. They say there are now more than 1000 generals on staff - a number greater than before 9/11. What are they doing?
While we don’t have troops on the ground to mark targets for our aircraft, just how difficult can it be to identify a column of ISIS cretin versus a bunch of civilians fleeing for their lives? ...Some A-10’s and AH-1s could do wonders!
Obama’s entire term in office has focused on reducing our military capabilities; ex: ridiculous rules of engagement; unilateral reduction of our nuclear weapons; cutting top military officers who disagreed with him; cutting personnel in all military branches; cutting funds for needed aircraft and other weapons; etc.
Obama is succeeding in making the USA a second-tier status as a nation; which has been his intent.
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