ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s military chief told state TV on Monday that an offensive to capture the strategic city of Ramadi from the Islamic State (ISIS) group was about to begin, as 48 hours remained on a deadline Baghdad gave residents to evacuate. “We are in an operation to control a sector of the city to prepare for an assault on the city center,” Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanemi said. Iraq’s defense ministry spokesman Nasir Nuri said that the militants were preventing people from fleeing Ramadi, using them as human shields, after the military dropped leaflets over the city on Sunday, marking safe exits and warning residents to evacuate within 72 hours. Ramadi fell to ISIS last May. Since then the army, backed by Shiite militias and some Sunni tribal forces, has launched two major offensives to wrest control of the province from the religious fanatics. Meanwhile, the governor-in-exile of Mosul – ISIS’ stronghold city in Iraq – announced that Kurdistan would cooperate with Baghdad in an anticipated offensive to liberate Mosul. "With the launch of the Mosul liberation campaign, there will be cooperation between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad," Naufl Hamadi told Rudaw.
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