US Says Iraqi Forces Have Retaken Southwestern Town of Rutba

Local Editor

Bolstered by US airstrikes, Iraqi ground forces had recaptured the southwestern town of Rutba after Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] extremists who had occupied the town for nearly two years fled or put up only light resistance, US military officers said Friday.

Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top US commander in Baghdad, told reporters Friday that it was an important victory for the Iraqi security forces, even though Rutba is a small town.

MacFarland said that taking Rutba from Daesh will allow the reopening of the main road from Amman to Baghdad, which he said is a significant economic lifeline for Iraq.

"Although it's a small town, it's an important success for the Iraqi security forces," he said.

Another US officer, Marine Brig. Gen. Bill Mullen, said in a separate interview that the decisive action in Rutba was US airstrikes outside the town that seemed to persuade the Daesh extremists to flee rather than put up substantial resistance.

He said there were an estimated "couple of hundred" Daesh militants in Rutba prior to the Iraqi assault and that by the time the Iraqis arrived all but about 30 had fled north to the city of al-Qaim or across the border into Syria.

Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the US military command in Baghdad, said the Iraqis had sent about 1,000 troops to Rutba. They were a combination of federal police, tribal fighters, border security forces and members of the Counter-Terrorism Force.

Warren said Daesh had used Rutba as a staging area for weaponry and foreign fighters flowing into Iraq.

Beyond the recapturing of Rutba, US officials were focused mainly on preparing Iraqi security forces for an assault on Mosul, which is the Daesh's main stronghold in Iraq.

MacFarland said the US is pushing the Iraqis to prepare for that step but does not want to move faster than is prudent, given the Iraqis' military and political limitations.

"We don't want to rush them out there and achieve fragile victories," MacFarland told a small group of reporters traveling with Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who was in Iraq Friday to consult with MacFarland and other US commanders. "We want to make sure that their victories are irreversible."

Asked whether he believed the assault phase of the Mosul operation will be launched before the end of this year, MacFarland said, "I really am reluctant to make predictions."

One factor weighing on the Iraqi campaign is the political paralysis that has gripped the government in Baghdad. Also, Daesh had launched a series of deadly attacks in the capital, including suicide car bombings, apparently with the aim of sowing further discord within the government and causing the government to pull some of its forces away from Mosul to help defend Baghdad.

"It's important to make sure that we help keep Baghdad secure," MacFarland said. "It's the center of gravity here. One of the ways we're trying to help the Iraqi security forces is to do that in the most efficient way possible so that it [Baghdad] doesn't become kind of a sinkhole for all of the Iraqi security forces."

He said that "for the most part," Iraqi's political leaders are resisting what he called the temptation to bring significant numbers of Iraqi forces back into the Baghdad area. Already, about half of the Iraqi army is deployed in or near Baghdad.

MacFarland described an Iraqi military leadership of vastly different levels of competence.

"I've seen some pretty dang good leaders actually, surprisingly good, out there in some of the units that I've talked to," he said. Some seem almost as good as the officers in his own forces, he said.

He added: "Other times you look at them and say, 'Eh, this guy may not be cutting it.'"

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team