News Analysis: IS takeover of Ramadi setback for Iraq, U.S. policy

The fall of Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest Anbar province, to the hands of Islamic State (IS) militants is a big blow to both the U.S. policy and the Iraqi security forces who originally were preparing to free the territories held earlier by the extremist group.

The loss of Ramadi to the IS is a sign that the Unites States lacks a proper strategy to defeat the IS group in Iraq as the U.S. air strikes proved powerless to block a sophisticated IS offensive to capture Ramadi, Najib al-Jubouri, a political analyst, said.

"Once again, the Iraqi security forces left behind huge U.S. military equipment, including armored vehicles, artillery and other advanced weapons and ammunition. Just like what happened in Mosul in June last year," he said.

Jubouri added he was worried that the IS militants could go further and may infiltrate into the Iraqi capital of Baghdad as well as the holy Shiite city of Karbala to the south, despite the fact that such vital targets are considered red lines and are well protected by many thousands of security forces and powerful Shiite militias.

But, he attributed his concerns to the IS military tactics which have become familiar for observers and the Iraqi forces on the ground.

"The extremist militants usually carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks on its target, then infiltrates into the population and the defending forces, gradually gains control of some areas of the target, and then launches an assault on the rest of the target," Jubouri told Xinhua.

"This is what happened in Ramadi as well as when they seized Mosul and many other cities and towns across Iraq," he added.

Earlier this month, the group carried out attacks in Salahudin province and seized large parts of Iraq's largest oil refinery in Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, as well as the two oilfields of Allas and Ajil in east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

However, Jubouri pointed out that security forces and Shiite militias, known as Hashd Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, made it difficult for the IS militants to seize more lands in Iraq, but retaking control of the IS-held cities and towns is still a harder task due to the deep division among the Iraqi factions, which makes it hard to adopt decisive decisions about how to fight back terrorism.

Moreover, the extra-large areas of battleground in the Sunni Arab provinces and the absence of the owners of the land (Sunnis) from the scene are main reasons for the failure in driving out the IS militants from these areas, Jubouri added.

Ibrahim al-Ameri, a lecturer of politics at Baghdad University, told Xinhua that it was crucial to bring Sunni tribal fighters in Anbar to battlefield but the efforts to bring them were so slow. Meantime, the IS militants were moving faster in their fighting in both the provinces of Salahudin and Anbar.

Iraqi authorities have failed so far to enact a law to form the national guard from tribal Sunni fighters to join the Shiite-dominated security forces, but several thousands of tribesmen formed their own groups to fight back the IS advance with weak support and arming from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government.

"With the fall of Ramadi and unaccomplished task of legally recruiting Sunnis, the U.S. administration was forced to accept the presence of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, despite the fact that many of Anbar residents will regard the Shiite militias with as much or even more fear than they feel for the Sunni extremist IS militants," Ameri said.

"However, if Iraq and its international partners succeed and bring Ramadi back, the battle could provide valuable experience for following military actions," Ameri said.

The IS group has seized most of Iraq's largest province of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have pushed them back.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since last June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS militants. Endit