ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Anbar officials’ displeasure over the “Labaik Ya Iraq” operation is rising days after the operation started with the aim to drive ISIS jihadis out of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi. A security source spoke to Rudaw Saturday on condition of anonymity and claimed that despite the numerous Iraqi forces deployed in the region “they have not seen any significant offensive against the militants.” The source also said “the slow operation disappointed residents of Anbar province.” Iraqi security forces backed by thousands of Hashd al-Shaabi militias, aka Popular Mobilization Units, have been deployed west, south and east of Ramadi since May 27 when the Iraqi government lunched a military operation to recapture the city. Ramadi fell to ISIS on May 15. For his part, Shaker al-Issawi, a top official in Fallujah, is suspicious of the slow pace of the Anbar operation, especially now that ISIS militants are allegedly not in strong defensive positions in the south and east of Ramadi. “At the beginning, the Iraqi forces moved toward Anbar University and areas of Tash and Ankoura. But since then the operation is on hold and no further moves have been seen,” Issawi told Rudaw late Saturday. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense claimed “remarkable victories on the ground” in a statement that accompanied a video on May 27. The central government’s army has been widely panned for its loss of the city, and US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter criticized the Iraqi military of having “no will to fight” in a CNN interview aired May 24.
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