ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

Kurdish-American commandos raid ISIS base near Hawija

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FORBIN said:

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72 h very fast optimistic i hope he can do it, seems about 600/1000 ISIS fighters encircled

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Iraqi forces have entered a former government compound in Ramadi, from where Islamic State (IS) group militants have been resisting an army offensive, sources have told the BBC.

The source said troops had entered one building and were planning to push cautiously through the rest of the huge compound amid fears of explosives.

IS militants are believed to have fled to the north-east of the city.

The government has been trying to retake Ramadi for weeks.

The mainly Sunni Arab city, about 55 miles (90km) west of Baghdad, fell to IS in May, and was seen as an embarrassing defeat for the army.

In recent days, troops have been picking their way through booby-trapped streets and buildings as they pushed towards the city centre, seizing several districts on the way.

They were reported to be within a few hundred yards of the former provincial administrative headquarters on Saturday.

When sniper fire from the compound stopped, and aerial surveillance detected no human activity, a group of Iraqi soldiers moved in, the source said.

They reportedly entered what used to be the city's department of health, housing a blood bank.

The Iraqi military believes the militants have headed north-east; fighting meanwhile is reported to be under way to the south-west of the compound.

The operation to recapture Ramadi began in early November, but has made slow progress, mainly because the government chose not to use the powerful Shia-dominated paramilitary force that helped it regain the northern city of Tikrit, to avoid increasing sectarian tensions.

Concern remains for the plight of hundreds of families who have been trapped on the frontline, the BBC's Thomas Fessy reports from Baghdad.

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delft said:

Remains the matter of the protection of YPG from the Turkish air force.

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delft said:

If Russian and Syrian aircraft bombarding the takfiri enabled YPG to take the dam it means they have learned to cooperate and that YPG now belongs to the anti-terrorist coalition with with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. That would be an important political development in line with the recent military achievements.
That must provide valuable protection to YPG from the Turkish airforce.

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foxmulder_ms said:

The fact that this happened by USAF support is a clear protection

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Germany will send Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) to Turkey to help augment the NATO ally's airspace from potential threats from Syria.

A London-based Turkey specialist said the move aims to deter primarily Russian aggression against Turkish aircraft patrolling the country's Syria border.

"This is a message to Russia in the aftermath of the crisis," the analyst said. "It is NATO's best interests if a potential Turkish-Russian conflict is prevented."

Russia pledged to take revenge — and "not just by means of commercial sanctions" — after two Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian SU-24 on Nov. 24, citing a brief violation of the Turkish airspace along the Syrian border.

Turkish diplomats said the German military would send more troops to operate the early warning aircraft in Turkey.

In a letter to the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, the German government said NATO's AWACS aircraft would be temporarily moved to a Turkish air base in the central Anatolian province of Konya.

The move will denote a temporary relocation of the Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft from Germany's Geilenkirchen Air Base to Konya Air Base.

On Dec. 22, Germany withdrew its Patriot air and anti-missile defense systems from Turkish soil after a three-year-long deployment. The move came shortly after NATO agreed to strengthen efforts to protect Turkey's southern borders and airspace.
Germany, along with other NATO allies, deployed the Patriots in Turkey to help the Turkish better counter any potential missile threat from Syria.

Earlier this year, the Berlin government said it would not renew the Patriot mandate in Turkey. The German Patriots were deployed in the southeastern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras.

The German withdrawal left only Spanish Patriot systems in Turkish territory. Those missile systems are stationed in the southern province of Adana near the Incirlik military base where U.S. and allied forces carry out airstrikes against radical jihadist strongholds in Syria.

In early 2013, the Dutch, US and German missile systems were stationed in Turkey. Spanish Patriots replaced the Dutch systems early 2015.

Spain agreed to extend its Patriot mandate in Turkey to help protect the Turkish territory.

On Dec. 18, NATO allies agreed to augment Turkey's southern borders and airspace by sending aircraft and ships. The NATO assistance will include surveillance aircraft and what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described as "enhanced air policing, and increased naval presence including maritime patrol aircraft."

The ships will be provided by Germany and Denmark currently exercising in the eastern Mediterranean.

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Jura said:

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now saw this:
Iraqi forces 'enter Islamic State Ramadi stronghold'

source:

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Islamic State fighters are putting up a tough fight in the militant-held city of Ramadi, slowing down the advance of Iraqi forces, a senior Iraqi commander said Sunday.

Iraq launched the long-awaited operation to retake the Anbar provincial capital, which was captured by IS militants in May, but after an initial push across the Euphrates River, their progress stalled.

Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of the Anbar military operations, told The Associated Press that the advance was hampered by suicide bombers, snipers and booby traps.

Iraqi troops will “need days” to get to the city’s central government complex, said al-Mahlawi, adding that the troops were about one kilometer (half mile) from the complex on Sunday.

Al-Mahlawi said he could neither confirm nor deny media reports that IS fighters had pulled out of the government complex by nightfall Sunday. But he cited residents in the area as telling his troops that the IS militants had withdrawn from the neighborhood of Albu Alwan, adjacent to the complex.

Another officer said the Iraqi army has yet to gain full control of a single Ramadi neighborhood. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

On Tuesday, Iraqi security forces reported progress in recapturing some areas in the western city of Ramadi, 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, from IS militants.

The extremists control large swaths of land in western and northern Iraq and in neighboring Syria. The IS group has declared a self-styled caliphate on the territory under its control.

After overrunning Ramadi, IS destroyed all the bridges around the city. It also demolished the Anbar operations command center and fanned out into the city’s residential areas to set up less conspicuous centers of command.

A statement late Sunday from the Iraqi joint command said the operation in Anbar is going according to plans and that Iraqi forces continue to encircle the government complex in Ramadi. It made no mention of any pullout of IS militants from the area.

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Jura said:

... yeah I facepalm at the thought of a Spokesperson saying this before the actual fight ...

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First footage of the government complex in

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after it was captured by the

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