CFR Daily News Brief Ramadi Falls to Islamic State

May 18, 2015 Daily News Brief

TOP OF THE AGENDA Ramadi Falls to Islamic State Ramadi, capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, fell to militants of the self-declared Islamic State as Iraqi military forces retreated on Sunday. Five hundred people were killed (AP) and more than eight thousand others were displaced by the fighting. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called (Guardian) on both Shia and Sunni militias to fight for control of Anbar province on Monday. The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State boosted (Reuters) its support to Iraqi forces in Ramadi, conducting nineteen air strikes in the past seventy-two hours. Meanwhile, Iran's defense minister arrived (AFP) in Baghdad on Monday for talks with senior Iraqi leaders. Separately, U.S. special forces killed (CNN) Abu Sayyaf, a senior leader of the Islamic State, in eastern Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon.

ANALYSIS "IS’s gains have often been the product of their mistakes. The group's advances across Iraq and Syria have been due not just to its force of arms and terrifying reputation for violence, but also to the lack of a political process in either country," writes the Economist. "Ramadi’s fall undercuts White House and Pentagon assurances that the war against Islamic State is going well. The reality is that the political limitations that the White House has put on U.S. military planners have allowed ISIS to hold or retake most of its ground. Half-hearted wars rarely end in victory," writes the Wall Street Journal. "With the Ramadi assault, the ISIS planners have also set up the circumstances for more trouble for the Iraqi government in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Iraq’s Prime Minister is now saying he will deploy Shia militias to the city to mount a fightback—but that is likely to roil more Sunnis in a province that they dominate and undermine efforts get the tribes that are aligned with ISIS to defect," writes Jamie Dettmer in the Daily Beast.