US Vows to Help Iraq Retake Ramadi, Critical Fight Looms
Last updated on: May 18, 2015 1:43 PM
Just days after saying the Islamic State was on the defensive across Iraq, the U.S. military Monday tried to downplay Ramadi’s fall, portraying it as a part of the ebb and flow of a “complex, bloody fight.”
“This is something that we’ve known is a possibility for some time,” said Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren. “What this is means is that we now have to, along with our Iraqi partners, retake Ramadi.”
“There is no denying that this is indeed a setback,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with U.S. President Barack Obama Monday. “There is also no denying that we will help the Iraqis take back Ramadi.”
The U.S. refused to give any timeline for how long it would take to reclaim the city, 125 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, calling it an Iraqi decision, while the Pentagon emphasized the U.S. role would be limited to supplying air power to back-up Iraqi operations on the ground.
Officials said coalition aircraft were already seeking Islamic State targets in and around Ramadi, carrying out eight strikes in a 24-hour period ending Monday while noting 32 such strikes had been carried out over the past three weeks.
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