The U.S. expects that Iraqi forces will soon be making a push to take back Ramadi, a key city ISIS forces took over in May.
“We now believe the battlefield conditions are set” for an Iraqi push into the city, Col. Steve Warren said in a briefing of reporters via teleconference from Baghdad.
Iraqi security forces are now in the outer suburbs of Ramadi and have made significant progress in approaching the city center in the last two weeks, according to Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition.
The advances have brought Iraqi forces some 9 miles closer to Ramadi and have been made possible by an easing of hot weather and new training and equipment for forces to breach ISIS minefields and other obstacles, he said.
“We’d like to see them move as rapidly as possible,” Warren said. “We believe now is the time for the final push into Ramadi.”
Iraqi forces now essentially encircle the city and four major approaches into the city center, Warren said.
