Iraqi Forces Ready to Launch Final Phase of Ramadi Liberation Operation

“Ramadi is to be stormed in the upcoming days,” sources said

“The commanders of the Iraqi army troops and the popular forces operating in the Ramadi battlefield have held several joint meetings in Anbar province to coordinate each others’ duties and missions in the final phase of liberating operation of the city,” the sources said.

“The army commander vowed to do their best to have a rapid access to the defense lines of the ISIL with the lowest possible casualties,” they added.

“The popular forces also are recruiting fresh fighters from the nearby villages and towns,” the sources went on to say.

A Russian source said on Tuesday that the Russian Defense Ministry supplied a large cargo of military and arms aid to Iraq as part of the Moscow-Baghdad growing anti-terrorism cooperation.

“A large number of the Russian-made armored vehicles, with impenetrable and highly resistant armor, have arrived in the Iraqi port of Basra,” the source said.

“Arrival of the armored vehicles on one hand will strengthen the Iraqi military against the ISIL terrorists’ rocket attacks and on the other hand will pave the way for the Russian army men to have safer presence in Iraq for war on terrorism,” the source underlined.

Last week, Iraqi forces cemented their hold on newly gained territory in Ramadi, after scoring a breakthrough in their fight against the ISIL group by retaking a large part of the city.

Iraqi forces spent months cutting off ISIL supply lines around Ramadi and slowly closing in on the city by taking suburban areas one after the other.