Centcom commander: ISIS ‘losing momentum’

Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, said the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) recent losses in Ramadi and across Iraq and Syria shows the terrorist group is “losing momentum.”  

Austin, in a statement Monday, congratulated Iraqi security forces for securing a key government center complex in Ramadi on Monday with coalition support. 

{mosads}”We congratulate them on this important operational achievement,” he said. 

“Coupled with other recent ISIL losses across Iraq and Syria, including at Tikrit, Bayji, al Hawl, the Tishrin Dam, and Sinjar, the seizure of the Government Center clearly demonstrates that the enemy is losing momentum as they steadily cede territory,” he said, using the administration’s preferred acronym for the terrorist group.  

Iraqi security forces announced they had retaken the complex and raised the national flag. Parts of the city in the eastern outskirts have not yet been cleared yet of ISIS fighters, U.S. and Iraqi military officials said. 

Still, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, commander of the U.S.-led coalition’s task force in Baghdad, called retaking the center a “significant milestone on the path to clear [ISIS] from the historic city.” 

Control of most of the city comes after a six-month long effort to regain it after ISIS seized it in May. 

“Looking ahead, I expect our partners on the ground in both Iraq and Syria, with coalition assistance, to continue to roll back ISIL gains as we work together to defeat this enemy,” Austin said.  

It’s not yet clear where Iraqi security forces may turn after Ramadi. Baghdad’s goal is to retake Mosul, which currently serves as ISIS’s main hub in Iraq. 

However, other Iraqi cities in Anbar province, such as Fallujah, Ar Rutbah, Habbaniya and Al Qaim, are still controlled by ISIS.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi vowed Monday to rid his country of ISIS in 2016. 

“We are coming to liberate Mosul, which will be the fatal blow to [ISIS],” he told the Lebanon Daily Star, using a derogatory Arabic name. 

MacFarland commended the Iraqi security forces’ “resolve in the fight for Ramadi,” as well as the thousands of coalition troops who supported them through airstrikes, training, equipment, advice and assistance. 

“This success belongs to them as well, and we will all work together to defeat our common enemy,” he said. 

Coalition aircraft provided more than 600 strikes in and around Ramadi.