FLEE OR RETURN: RAMADI RESIDENTS FACE A TOUGH CHOICE

[Sally]

FLEE OR RETURN: RAMADI RESIDENTS FACE A TOUGH CHOICE
OFFICIALS SAY ATTACKS AROUND IRAQ'S CAPITAL KILL 14 PEOPLE

ON THE BZEBIZ BRIDGE, Iraq (AP) -- In the two weeks since militants from the Islamic State group overran central Ramadi, thousands of people have streamed out of the city, fleeing the brutal clashes between the extremists and Iraqi security forces.

With the announcement late Monday that the Iraqi military has retaken key areas in and around the city, the tide has suddenly shifted: Thousands are turning around and heading back toward Ramadi, turning this rickety, makeshift bridge over the Euphrates River into a scene of chaos and clogged traffic.

Through the heat and blinding dust, men and women loaded down with suitcases and bags crossed the bridge west of Baghdad on Tuesday. Some led livestock on ropes. Others pushed carts carrying children or the elderly and a few meager possessions.

Continue reading at:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAQ_RAMADI_DISPLACED?SITE=AP&SECTION=

 

[Sunni Man]

FLEE OR RETURN: RAMADI RESIDENTS FACE A TOUGH CHOICE
OFFICIALS SAY ATTACKS AROUND IRAQ'S CAPITAL KILL 14 PEOPLE

ON THE BZEBIZ BRIDGE, Iraq (AP) -- In the two weeks since militants from the Islamic State group overran central Ramadi, thousands of people have streamed out of the city, fleeing the brutal clashes between the extremists and Iraqi security forces.

With the announcement late Monday that the Iraqi military has retaken key areas in and around the city, the tide has suddenly shifted: Thousands are turning around and heading back toward Ramadi, turning this rickety, makeshift bridge over the Euphrates River into a scene of chaos and clogged traffic.

Through the heat and blinding dust, men and women loaded down with suitcases and bags crossed the bridge west of Baghdad on Tuesday. Some led livestock on ropes. Others pushed carts carrying children or the elderly and a few meager possessions.

Continue reading at:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAQ_RAMADI_DISPLACED?SITE=AP&SECTION=

Do tell .....

 

[waltky]

Push to re-take Ramadi...

Civilians Trapped as Iraqi Forces Fight ISIS for Control of Ramadi
December 09, 2015 - Hundreds of civilians are trapped in central Ramadi, squeezed between Islamic State extremists who have booby-trapped the building around them and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) fighting to retake control of the western city.

Brett McGurk, the U.S. official in charge of the coalition against IS, told journalists in Baghdad that the extremists were “taking human shields as hostages.” “It is the poorest and most vulnerable who are trapped because they did not have the means to leave earlier,” UNHCR representative Bruno Geddo told VOA via telephone from Baghdad. Geddo said for the last 10 days Iraqi forces have been dropping leaflets on the city advising civilians to leave and head south to an area under Iraqi control. But fleeing the city has been difficult. According to reports, IS has threatened those who try to leave and booby-trapped a lot of buildings in the city center.

Displaced civilians from Ramadi and around the area cross the Bzebiz bridge as they leave their hometowns, heading towards Baghdad​

Many people are reportedly paying bribes in order to escape. “Our information is that those who manage to escape from the city center, where they are trapped by IS, will leave one by one. This is the more plausible option, so there will not be a big outflow,” Geddo said. According to the UNHCR, there are already some 10,000 displaced Iraqis in Anbar province in camps bordering Baghdad, and another 90,000 displaced Iraqis in Baghdad itself. Ramadi is roughly 125 kms west of the capital.

Airstrikes continue

A spokesperson for the U.S. military's Operation Inherent Resolve told VOA via Twitter that the ISF now controls many locations on both sides of the city, which is divided by the Euphrates river. U.S. airstrikes in support of the Iraqi Forces in Ramadi continued Wednesday, hitting large IS tactical units, vehicles, command-and-control centers and bomb factories.

The spokesperson said the “precision airstrikes strive to protect civilians” in the area. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday the U.S. was ready to send in attack helicopters and “accompanying advisors” to help the ISF retake the city, if requested by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi. Regaining control of Ramadi would be a major success for the Iraqi forces, which have been criticized for allowing IS to over-run the city in May.

Taking a 'long time'

See also:

U.S. ready to send advisers, helicopters to Iraq to help retake Ramadi
Wed Dec 9, 2015 - The United States is prepared to deploy advisers and attack helicopters if requested by Iraq to help it "finish the job" of retaking the city of Ramadi from Islamic State, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday.

Carter's remarks were the latest sign of U.S. preparations to intensify its military campaign against the group, which controls wide swaths of Iraq and Syria and has orchestrated and inspired attacks abroad. Islamic State captured Ramadi, a provincial capital just a short drive west of Baghdad, in May in its biggest conquest since last year. Retaking it would be a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Carter, speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, said it has taken a "frustratingly long time" for Iraqi security forces to claw back territory.

But he pointed to significant gains, including recapturing the Anbar Operations Center on the northern bank of the Euphrates River in the past 24 hours. "The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi Army with additional unique capabilities to help them finish the job, including attack helicopters and accompanying advisers, if circumstances dictate and if requested by Prime Minister Abadi," Carter said. A U.S. defense official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. advisers would be prepared to provide advice to Iraqi security forces on how to move through the center of Ramadi over the next several weeks.

The White House cautioned later on Wednesday that President Barack Obama had not yet approved the use of the helicopters, and that Abadi would first have to request such support. "Any decision like this would only come at the request of Prime Minister Abadi, and after explicit sign-off from the president of the United States," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "And that sign-off has not been given at this point."

MORE

Related:

IS Opens New Supply Route Between Syria and Iraq
December 09, 2015 - Islamic State (IS) militants have been using a new route between Syria and Iraq to ferry supplies since Iraqi Kurdish forces cut off one of IS' crucial links in northern Iraq last month. The Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga and supported by American airstrikes, recaptured the town of Sinjar, cutting off a crucial IS supply route known as Highway 47 between Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria.

IS has created informal routes through the flat desert of southern Mosul where it uses civilian cars to transfer its fighters and supplies across the border between Iraq and Syria, Kurdish commanders and Iraqi officials told VOA. VOA Kurdish correspondent Kawa Omar reports that IS militants are using civilian vehicles to move supplies between Raqqa and Mosul. The informal route starts from the small town of Ba’aj, south of Mosul, and continues to the town of Qirwan close to the border with Syria.

This file picture released on July 13, 2015 by the Rased News Network, a Facebook page affiliated with Islamic State militants, shows an Islamic State militant sniper in position during a battle against Syrian government forces, in Deir el-Zour province, Syria.​

A former member of the Iraqi parliament, Qasim Hussein Barjis, said that this new route has become an important lifeline to IS as it has been suffering casualties and damage to its infrastructure from an increase in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. IS has also faced Russian and Syrian regime strikes. “The route has been paved by IS from Raqqa to Mosul with the exception of Qirwan town where it has to move across a sandy flat desert,” Barjis told VOA. The Sinjar operation was an important move toward limiting Islamic State's movement across the border between Iraq and Syria, Kurdish commanders and U.S. officials say.

The new IS route is costlier and more time-consuming compared to Highway 47, but the ease of movement in the flat desert of southern Mosul makes it an attractive alternative to the fighters. “Unlike Sinjar area, southern Mosul is easy for movement because it is sandy and flat,” said Seydo Husein, a council member in Nineveh, one of Iraq’s 19 governorates. “We had information that [IS] was working on creating that route before the liberation of Sinjar,” Khalaf al-Adidi, another member of Nineveh Governorate, told VOA. An Iraqi news website, Niqash, reported that the route is also being used by civilians who trade between Raqqa and Mosul. “People of the area have opened up small shops on the way and sell water, food, and fuel,” according to a civilian truck driver who was quoted on the website.

MORE

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Thread closed

The following Rules Apply Everywhere unless otherwise stated on USMB, including Posts, Chat Box, Private Messages, Visitor Messages, and Signatures:

• When starting a new Thread, please first check and confirm that there are not Current Threads, on the Same Topic, This will Avoid Merges. Please select the forum that best relates to the subject matter of your topic. Opening Posts require more than a Copy and Paste with a Link, You need to include relevant, on topic material of your own. When posting a new topic do not use the CAPS lock.