A city once held by Saddam Hussein's Army, then taken by U.S. forces, and then taken by ISIS, is now in the hands of the Iraqi Army. In a coordinated attack that started in late November, Ramadi has now been declared a successful liberation by Iraqi and coalition forces.
Only 68 miles west of Baghdad, Ramadi was ISIS' trophy city and the staging ground for a possible offensive into Iraq's capitol city. Ramadi is consumed with mostly Sunni-Muslims as opposed to the Iraqi Army's mostly Shiite soldiers.
"The clearance of the government center is a significant accomplishment and is the result of many months of hard work by the Iraqi Army, the Counter Terrorism Service, the Iraqi Air Force, local and federal police and tribal fighters," coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren said.
If history repeats itself, the Iraqi forces will fail to maintain their ground and will be easily routed again by a more aggressive and rejuvenated ISIS group. We have seen this time and time again where the mostly Sunni-Muslim population will do very little to help the more western Shiites in their effort to completely rid the town of ISIS propaganda.
But if all goes well, Iraq's next offensive should be towards Fallujah, and then towards Mosul.