27 December 2015•Update: 27 December 2015
BAGHDAD
Iraqi forces are said to be advancing towards the government complex in Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar.
The War Media Network, affiliated with the Iraqi Defense Ministry, said in a statement on Saturday that the 10th Brigade took control of Ramadi Barrage and the surrounding regions from Daesh.
Ramadi Barrage is crucial as it supplies water to pro-government towns and villages downstream. In June 2015, Daesh was accused of closing the structure’s gates.
The statement said two Daesh positions in the south of Fallujah were destroyed in airstrikes and three Daesh militants were killed in Fallujah’s Naeemia region. One shelter and weapon depot was destroyed.
The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Agency confirmed that security forces took full control of al-Hoz district in the center of Ramadi, and claimed they were advancing toward the city’s government complex.
Iraqi forces are pushing hard to take the full control of Ramadi, months after Daesh took occupied it in May 2015.
The military, alongside Sunni tribal fighters and backed by a U.S.-led international air coalition, began to enter Ramadi early Tuesday.
In June last year, Daesh overran Mosul -- Iraq’s second largest city -- before moving on to capture additional territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi government forces, along with pro-government militias and Kurdish peshmerga forces, are currently seeking to retake Daesh-held areas with air support from the U.S.-led coalition.
Over the last year, the coalition has carried out numerous airstrikes against Daesh targets in both Iraq and Syria, forcing the militant group to withdraw from a number of areas it had previously captured, although it remains in firm control of Mosul.
