Responding to growing military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], the reclusive self-anointed 43-year-old caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took to the airwaves to reassure his brainwashed flock. Shocking the world seizing some 50% of Iraq and 30% of Syria in 2014, Iraqi forces, backed by the Kurd’s Peshmerga fighters and U.S. Special Operations, moved in on Ramadi, fighting door-to-door to root out ISIS terrorists from what’s left of Ramadi’s neighborhoods. “The counter-terrorism forces are within 900 meters [0.5 mile] from the government complex,” said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, closing in on ISIS’s command-and-control complex. “Air strikes helped detonate explosive devices and booby-trapped houses, facilitating our advance,” said Rasool, sending a loud message to al-Baghdadi that time is running out on the world’s most deadly terrorist group.
Military operations proceed in Ramadi about 1 km [.62 mile] a day, said Rasool, demonstrating the determination of Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. Special Forces to retake the ISIS stronghold. “Our troops are now advancing towards their targets but were delayed because the criminals have booby-trapped everything,” said Rasool. Two hours from Baghdad by car in the fertile Euphrates Valley, Ramadi was strategic to ISIS, putting pressure on Baghdad’s government to defend its capital. Once Ramadi is back in Iraq’s hands, al-Baghdadi knows that the next battle will liberate Iraq’s oil rich Northern capital of Mosul. “They announced lately a coalition . . . falsely called ‘Islamic,’ and announce its goal is to fight the caliphate,” said al-Baghdadi, responding after months of silence to reassure the faithful. Al-Baghdadi knows that a defeat at Ramadi cracks the caliphate’s invincibility.
Responding after months of silence, al-Baghdadi hopes to allay fears that his once infallible caliphate has shown weakness. Attacking Paris Nov. 13 in six coordinated attacks killing 140, injuring hundreds more, raised the stakes for al-Baghdadi by summoning world powers to France’s defense. Had al-Baghdadi confined his attacks inside the caliphate, he’d face less ferocious assaults now threatening to take back Ramadi. World powers meeting after Paris agreed to redouble efforts to support Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces to retake ISIS territory. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi promised to march on to Mosul. “The liberation of dear Mosul will be achieved with the cooperation and unity of all Iraqis after Ramadi,” said al-Abadi, putting ISIS on notice that their days are numbered. Iraq’s new army backed by Pershmerga fighters and U.S. Special Forces is a different force.
Watching from his bunker, al-Baghdadi felt inclined to rally the troops with more Bin Laden-like smoke-blowing. “If this coalition were Islamic, it would have announced victory and to the people of Syria,” said al-Baghdadi. Al-Baghdadi called on Saudis to “rise up against the apostate tyrants, and avenge your people in Syria, Iraq and Yemen,” diverting attention away from an imminent defeat in Ramadi. Things can’t be good when al-Baghdadi promises to go after Israel, insisting he has “not forgotten Palestine for a single moment.” Whipping up more propaganda follows battlefield defeats that could have catastrophic effects on ISIS morale. “And soon, soon with God’s permission, you will hear the footsteps of the mujahedeen . . . We are getting closer to you day by day,” warning the West that more attacks were underway, whipping up the kind of fear playing into the global media.
Inheriting his violent mantle from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian born terrorist that strung U.S. marines on bridges like Christmas ornaments in April 4-May 1, 2004 First Battle of Fallujah, al-Baghdadi learned well. While al-Zarqawi met the long arm of American Justice June 7, 2006, al-Baghdadi adopted al-Zarqawi’s way putting unthinkable violence on full public display. Showing beheadings and mafia-like executions for the world to see, al-Baghdadi followed al-Zarqawi’s way into his dead-end in Mosul. Like Ramadi, where Islamic fighters have dug in, rooting out ISIS in Mosul won’t be easy. Iraq’s infantry, Kurd’s Peshmerga fighters and U.S. Special Ops all must step up their game if they have any shot of liberating Mosul. Pushing for a global terrorist agenda, al-Baghdadi miscalculated the world’s resolve to finally stop ISIS’s five- year reign of terror.
Marching to evict ISIS from Ramadi, Iraqi forces, Kurd’s Peshmerga fighters and U.S. Special Ops have finally come up with the right formula to get results. Once the new coalition rids Ramadi of ISIS, they look to the big prize of liberating oil-rich Mosul. Since the Nov. 13 Paris massacre and Dec. 2 San Bernardino attack, President Barack Obama looks to spend his final year making progress against ISIS. While his 2014 air campaign in Iraq and Syria did little to deter Paris or San Bernardino, supplying Iraqi forces and Kurd’s Peshmerga fighters with more U.S. Special Forces shows a renewed commitment to get rid of ISIS. Most terror experts spoke with one voice telling Obama that air-power alone won’t dislodge ISIS from key villages, towns and cities. Closing in on Ramadi should pave the way for a successful operation liberate oil-rich Mosul from ISIS’s current stranglehold.
