Story highlights
- Iraqi state media announces start of operation against ISIS by forces loyal to the government
- Shia militia group that helped retake Tikrit says it has answered a call for help
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN)Iraq forces have launched a major military operation to liberate Iraq's Anbar and Salaheddin provinces from ISIS, Iraqi state media and a key Shia militia group said Tuesday, a little more than a week after the militant group overran Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi.
The fighting in Salaheddin province is aimed at cutting a supply route south into Anbar and liberate the city of Baiji and an oil refinery, according to the militia group al-Hashd al-Shaabi.
In Anbar province, the military operations will be in Karma, northeast of Falluja, and around Ramadi, it said.
ISIS fighters swept into Ramadi on May 17, tightening control of Anbar province and gaining a base of operations about 110 kilometers (70 miles) away from Baghdad.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter publicly criticized the Iraqi army over the weekend, saying it lacked the will to fight. The Obama administration has since sought to mend fences, with Vice President Joe Biden calling Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday to recognize "the enormous sacrifice and bravery of Iraqi forces over the past 18 months in Ramadi and elsewhere," according to a statement from the White House.
Iraqis refute 'will to fight' condemnation 02:09
Forces loyal to the Iraqi government had been waiting until now for orders to launch a counterattack.
A banner Tuesday on Iraq's state television channel, Iraqiya TV, read: "Defense Minister: Vast operations are underway, coordinated between our Armed Forces and the heroic forces of al-Hashd al-Shaabi to liberate Ramadi from Daesh." Daesh is an Arab acronym for ISIS.
Another banner on the same station cited the Prime Minister as saying the liberation of Anbar "is imminent."
Iraqi military police and members of al-Hashd al-Shaabi are advancing and tightening their grip on ISIS, he said.
ISIS is reportedly rushing reinforcements into Ramadi to defend its positions there.
Sectarian tensions feared
The predominantly Shia Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary force -- also known as the Popular Mobilization Units -- helped the Iraqi army retake Tikrit from ISIS in March.
CNN exclusive: We wanted to fight in Ramadi 02:40
Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Hashd al-Shaabi, said: "This is a continuation of the Tikrit operation. It is to cut the supply route from Baiji oil refinery in the north to Ramadi. After the call of the Prime Minister -- we answered the call."
Iraq's Ministry of Defense said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the Iraqi security forces and Hashd al-Shaabi militia now had ISIS surrounded in Ramadi. The joint forces have also managed to cut off all strategic roads used by ISIS for resupply, it said.
The decision to mobilize the Shiite force follows a request for help from Anbar provincial officials, tribal leaders and religious clerics.
But its involvement has prompted fears it could inflame sectarian tensions, and the militia's ties to Iran has complicated the use of airstrikes by the U.S. coalition.
Close to 55,000 people have fled Ramadi since ISIS captured the city, a U.N. agency said Monday, with most of the displaced persons heading to Baghdad.
Pressure on Ramadi
Iraqi authorities have not given details of the precise makeup and number of forces involved in the new military operation.
It's also not clear when combat will begin on the ground and how soon the rhetoric may translate into concrete progress.
The Hashd al-Shaabi fighters appear to be focusing initially on efforts to cut the supply route running northeast from Anbar province toward Baiji.
They say they are working alongside the Iraqi security forces and more than 4,000 citizens from Salaheddin, which may indicate that some Sunni tribesmen are involved as well.
The operation has been dubbed Labayk Ya Hussein, or Answering the Call of Hussein. Observers say this has sectarian overtones that play to Shia elements rather than appealing to Sunnis.
The forces loyal to the Iraqi government are positioned in a semicircle to the south of Ramadi and say they may be able to increase pressure on the city from there.
Short-term win?
According to CNN counterterrorism analyst Philip Mudd, the government's willingness to make use of Shia militia groups supported by Iran alongside the Iraqi military to retake Ramadi in the Sunni heartland of Anbar province may store up future problems.
"Short term, they may win," said Mudd, a former CIA counterterrorism official. "The long-term solution for Iraq may not be a unified state if the only message they (Sunnis in Anbar province) get is either join ISIS, which will behead you, or support the government, which brings in rival Shia militias to oust the Sunnis. It's a very difficult political situation."
The short-term prospects for retaking Ramadi are good, he said, since ISIS and other insurgent groups tend to do well at seizing territory but keeping hold of it is a bigger challenge.
However, ISIS has demonstrated its forces are more agile than those of the government and, based on past experience, is likely to find multiple locations to attack elsewhere if its forces start to lose their grip on Anbar, Mudd said. This will push the government to split its forces between different fronts.
"Long term, I think there have to be pretty basic questions about how a Shia-led government that's supported by Iran brings in Sunnis to participate in government."
Iran queries U.S. commitment
While the U.S. defense secretary has questioned Iraq's willingness to stand up against ISIS, Tehran has questioned the U.S. commitment to the fight against the group.
One of Iran's senior military officials, Maj. Gen. Qassam Soleimani, was quoted Monday by Iran's state news agency, IRNA, as saying the United States is "doing nothing" while Ramadi has fallen to ISIS and ''war crimes are taking place.''
"Today, nobody is confronting ISIS properly except Iran, even the countries that Iran is supporting," he said in an apparent reference to Iraq.
There's little disagreement that the Iraqi forces the United States has spent billions of dollars training and equipping have so far struggled in the fight against ISIS.
But the involvement of Iranian-backed Shia forces also complicates matters for the U.S. military.
American officials have stressed that the forces on the ground are all under the command and control of the Iraqi military to avoid a situation where a U.S. airstrike accidentally hits a Shia militia group.
The U.S. military will also only launch strikes when it has its own intelligence regarding ground targets to avoid hitting civilians, CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr said.
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Syrian government troops walk inside the Kweiras air base on Wednesday, November 11, after they broke a siege imposed by ISIS militants.
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An explosion rocks Kobani, Syria, during a reported car bomb attack by ISIS militants on Tuesday, October 20.
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Shiite fighters, fighting alongside Iraqi government forces, fire a rocket at ISIS militants as they advance toward the center of Baiji, Iraq, on Monday, October 19.
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Smoke rises above a damaged building in Ramadi, Iraq, following a coalition airstrike against ISIS positions on Saturday, August 15.
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Iraqi men look at damage following a bomb explosion that targeted a vegetable market in Baghdad on Thursday, August 13. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
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In this image taken from social media, an ISIS fighter holds the group's flag after the militant group overran the Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn on Thursday, August 6, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. ISIS uses modern tools such as social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism. Fighters are destroying holy sites and valuable antiquities even as their leaders propagate a return to the early days of Islam.
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An ISIS fighter poses with spoils purportedly taken after capturing the Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn.
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Smoke rises as Iraqi security forces bomb ISIS positions in the eastern suburbs of Ramadi, Iraq, on August 6.
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Buildings reduced to piles of debris can be seen in the eastern suburbs of Ramadi on August 6.
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The governor of the Asir region in Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz, left, visits a man who was wounded in a suicide bombing attack on a mosque in Abha, Saudi Arabia, on August 6. ISIS claimed responsibility for the explosion, which killed at least 13 people and injured nine others.
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Saudi officials and investigators check the inside of the mosque on August 6.
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Mourners in Gaziantep, Turkey, grieve over a coffin Tuesday, July 21, during a funeral ceremony for the victims of a suspected ISIS suicide bomb attack. That bombing killed at least 31 people in Suruc, a Turkish town that borders Syria. Turkish authorities blamed ISIS for the attack.
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Protesters in Istanbul carry anti-ISIS banners and flags to show support for victims of the Suruc suicide blast during a demonstration on Monday, July 20.
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People in Ashmoun, Egypt, carry the coffin for 1st Lt. Mohammed Ashraf, who was killed when the ISIS militant group attacked Egyptian military checkpoints on Wednesday, July 1. At least 17 soldiers were reportedly killed, and 30 were injured.
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Syrians wait near the Turkish border during clashes between ISIS and Kurdish armed groups in Kobani, Syria, on Thursday, June 25. The photo was taken in Sanliurfa, Turkey. ISIS militants disguised as Kurdish security forces infiltrated Kobani on Thursday and killed "many civilians," said a spokesman for the Kurds in Kobani.
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Residents examine a damaged mosque after an Iraqi Air Force bombing in the ISIS-seized city of Falluja, Iraq, on Sunday, May 31. At least six were killed and nine others wounded during the bombing.
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People search through debris after an explosion at a Shiite mosque in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, May 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to tweets from ISIS supporters, which included a formal statement from ISIS detailing the operation.
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Iraqi soldiers fire their weapons toward ISIS group positions in the Garma district, west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, on Sunday, April 26. Pro-government forces said they had recently made advances on areas held by Islamist jihadists.
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Iraqi counterterrorism forces patrol in Ramadi on April 18.
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Thousands of Iraqis cross a bridge over the Euphrates River to Baghdad as they flee Ramadi on Friday, April 17.
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Yazidis embrace after being released by ISIS south of Kirkuk, Iraq, on Wednesday, April 8. ISIS released more than 200 Yazidis, a minority group whose members were killed, captured and displaced when the Islamist terror organization overtook their towns in northern Iraq last summer, officials said.
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Kurdish Peshmerga forces help Yazidis as they arrive at a medical center in Altun Kupri, Iraq, on April 8.
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A Yazidi woman mourns for the death of her husband and children by ISIS after being released south of Kirkuk on April 8. ISIS is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts.
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People in Tikrit inspect what used to be a palace of former President Saddam Hussein on April 3.
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On April 1, Shiite militiamen celebrate the retaking of Tikrit, which had been under ISIS control since June. The push into Tikrit came days after U.S.-led airstrikes targeted ISIS bases around the city.
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Iraqi security forces launch a rocket against ISIS positions in Tikrit on Monday, March 30.
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The parents of 19-year-old Mohammed Musallam react at the family's home in the East Jerusalem Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov on Tuesday, March 10. ISIS released a video purportedly showing a young boy executing Musallam, an Israeli citizen of Palestinian descent who ISIS claimed infiltrated the group in Syria to spy for the Jewish state. Musallam's family told CNN that he had no ties with the Mossad, Israel's spy agency, and had, in fact, been recruited by ISIS.
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Iraqi Shiite fighters cover their ears as a rocket is launched during a clash with ISIS militants in the town of Al-Alam, Iraq, on Monday, March 9.
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Displaced Assyrian women who fled their homes due to ISIS attacks pray at a church on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, March 1. ISIS militants abducted at least 220 Assyrians in Syria.
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Safi al-Kasasbeh, right, receives condolences from tribal leaders at his home village near Karak, Jordan, on Wednesday, February 4. Al-Kasasbeh's son, Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh, was burned alive in a video that was recently released by ISIS militants. Jordan is one of a handful of Middle Eastern nations taking part in the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS.
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A Kurdish marksman looks over a destroyed area of Kobani on Friday, January 30, after the city had been liberated from the ISIS militant group. The Syrian city, also known as Ayn al-Arab, had been under assault by ISIS since mid-September.
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Kurdish people celebrate in Suruc, Turkey, near the Turkish-Syrian border, after ISIS militants were expelled from Kobani on Tuesday, January 27.
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Collapsed buildings are seen in Kobani on January 27 after Kurdish forces took control of the town from ISIS.
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Junko Ishido, mother of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, reacts during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, January 23. ISIS would later kill Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
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ISIS militants are seen through a rifle's scope during clashes with Peshmerga fighters in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday, January 21.
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An elderly Yazidi man arrives in Kirkuk after being released by ISIS on Saturday, January 17. The militant group released about 200 Yazidis who were held captive for five months in Iraq. Almost all of the freed prisoners were in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect, Kurdish officials said.
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Smoke billows behind an ISIS sign during an Iraqi military operation to regain control of the town of Sadiyah, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on Tuesday, November 25.
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Fighters from the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish People's Protection Units join forces to fight ISIS in Kobani on Wednesday, November 19.
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A picture taken from Turkey shows smoke rising after ISIS militants fired mortar shells toward an area controlled by Syrian Kurdish fighters near Kobani on Monday, November 3.
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Iraqi special forces search a house in Jurf al-Sakhar, Iraq, on Thursday, October 30, after retaking the area from ISIS.
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ISIS militants stand near the site of an airstrike near the Turkey-Syria border on Thursday, October 23. The United States and several Arab nations have been bombing ISIS targets in Syria to take out the militant group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters.
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Kurdish fighters walk to positions as they combat ISIS forces in Kobani on Sunday, October 19.
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Heavy smoke rises in Kobani following an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on October 18.
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Cundi Minaz, a female Kurdish fighter, is buried in a cemetery in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc on Tuesday, October 14. Minaz was reportedly killed during clashes with ISIS militants in nearby Kobani.
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Kiymet Ergun, a Syrian Kurd, celebrates in Mursitpinar, Turkey, after an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition in Kobani on Monday, October 13.
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Alleged ISIS militants stand next to an ISIS flag atop a hill in Kobani on Monday, October 6.
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A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier who was wounded in a battle with ISIS is wheeled to the Zakho Emergency Hospital in Duhuk, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 30.
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Syrian Kurds wait near a border crossing in Suruc as they wait to return to their homes in Kobani on Sunday, September 28.
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A elderly man is carried after crossing the Syria-Turkey border near Suruc on Saturday, September 20.
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A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells toward ISIS militants in Zumar, Iraq, on Monday, September 15.
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Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire at ISIS militant positions from their position on the top of Mount Zardak, east of Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 9.
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Displaced Iraqis receive clothes from a charity at a refugee camp near Feeshkhabour, Iraq, on Tuesday, August 19.
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Aziza Hamid, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, cries for her father while she and some other Yazidi people are flown to safety Monday, August 11, after a dramatic rescue operation at Iraq's Mount Sinjar. A CNN crew was on the flight, which took diapers, milk, water and food to the site where as many as 70,000 people were trapped by ISIS. But only a few of them were able to fly back on the helicopter with the Iraqi Air Force and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
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Thousands of Yazidis are escorted to safety by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and a People's Protection Unit in Mosul on Saturday, August 9.
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Thousands of Yazidi and Christian people flee Mosul on Wednesday, August 6, after the latest wave of ISIS advances.
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A Baiji oil refinery burns after an alleged ISIS attack in northern Selahaddin, Iraq, on Thursday, July 31.
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A Syrian rebel fighter lies on a stretcher at a makeshift hospital in Douma, Syria, on Wednesday, July 9. He was reportedly injured while fighting ISIS militants.
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Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants in Mosul on Tuesday, June 10.
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