At long last:
Iraqi forces have made significant advances around Ramadi, and an operation is looming to retake the city, captured by the Islamic State jihadist group in May, officers said Wednesday.
The big fanfare is underway:
"Great people, the hour of victory against the Daesh (IS) criminal gangs has come," said the Joint Operations Command for Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital.
Well, alrighty, then.
And at Baiji where Iraqi forces have been battling over a city and refinery (is it rubble yet?), the fight has tilted Iraq's way:
Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militia fighters recaptured most of the country’s largest oil refinery from Islamic State militants on Thursday, security officials said. ...
The refinery is a focal point in efforts to contain Islamic State and has changed hands several times since the Sunni Islamist militants swept through northern Iraq last year. Islamic State controls one-third of the territory of the country.
I actually don't know what number the Battle of Baiji has reached. But it smacks of the Isonzo River.
I'm starting to think the Iraqis should just build a new refinery further south and level the facility at Baiji.
At this rate, ISIL will die of old age.
