Islamic State poured more fighters into Ramadi yesterday as security forces and Shi’ite paramilitaries renewed efforts to retake the western Iraqi city that fell to the Islamists a week ago in a major setback for the government.
In Palmyra, the Syrian air force launched strikes at buildings captured by Islamic State, whose occupation of the city has raised fears that the insurgents will destroy its famed Roman ruins.
Islamic state has killed at least 217 people execution-style, including children, since it moved into the Palmyra area 10 days ago, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A further 300 soldiers were killed in fighting before the city was captured, according to the monitoring group.
Islamic State reinforced Ramadi yesterday, deploying fighters in preparation for battle against security forces and paramilitary groups advancing on the provincial capital.
Iraqi forces have regained ground east of the city since launching a counter-offensive on Saturday, a week after it was overrun by the insurgents, and yesterday retook a rural area south of the city.
Police sources said Iraqi security forces supported by Iran-backed Shi’ite militia groups and locally recruited Sunni tribal fighters had retaken parts of al-Tash, 20 km (12 miles) south of Ramadi, which lies only a short distance from Baghdad.
Ramadi residents said trucks carrying Islamic State fighters arrived on Sunday evening before spreading out across the city.
Local man Abu Saed heard a commotion outside his house in the city’s southeastern Officers neighbourhood. “I saw two trucks pull up outside with dozens of fighters carrying arms running quickly into nearby buildings and taking cover.”
Another resident said at least 40 fighters had jumped out of three trucks that arrived in the southern al-Tamim district at around 8 pm on Sunday. “They were carrying weapons and wearing mostly khaki dress with ammunition belts wrapped around their chests,” said Abu Mutaz. “They were talking in an Arabic dialect, they were not Iraqis.”
In Syria, Hezbollah fighters captured two hilltops from al Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front in areas close to the Lebanese border and killed dozens of enemy combatants, Hezbollah-run al-Manar television reported yesterday.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s civil war.
The group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed to clear the border area of Sunni Muslim militant groups that have carried out attacks on Lebanese soil.