Ramadi liberation op will be very difficult

Press TV has conducted an interview with Sabah Jawad, the director of the Iraqi Democrats against Occupation, about recent advances by the Iraqi military in Ramadi to retake some more areas there from the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, how important is it for the Iraqi army to retake Ramadi specifically on its route to finally liberate Mosul?

Jawad: It’s very important. I mean, the Iraqi government airplanes have been dropping some leaflets last weekend asking what’s remained of the civilians in Ramadi to leave Ramadi anticipating there is going to be very soon an onslaught on ISIS forces in the city.

We know now in the past half an hour or an hour ago that actually the Iraqi government and security service launched an attack against ISIS forces in the central area of Ramadi and in some residential area where they have their strongholds and their fighters there.

So, it seems that this is beginning today and we will see some result in the next few days.

Press TV: How complicated would the battle to liberate Ramadi be though, because in the liberation of other parts of Iraq, we’ve seen Daesh terrorists use improvised explosive devices planted in different locations on the path toward cities and towns and also making use of chemical weapons?

Jawad: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is tactics used by ISIS all along in every city they occupied and every town they occupied. When they had to leave, they put a lot of explosive devices. It’s not only in Iraq but also in Syria as well. This is their method… to cause maximum damage to the advancing troops as well.

And not only that, they hold the local inhabitants as hostages and as a human shield as well. So, it’s very difficult, it seems, actually not to have civilian casualties in such a battle, because they will use the civilians as a protection for them.

And then, you have explosion devices implanted in the houses and roads and side roads as well.

So, this is… And their access to the chemical weapons, which is serious now, because what’s been exposed that Daesh and other terrorist groups have access to the sarin gas and they used it in Syria and with the help of Turkish government, and this exposure by some people in Turkey, actually the security services in Turkey, is helping terrorist groups in Syria to obtain such lethal weapons.