Iraqi army offensive targets IS-held city of Ramadi

Armed forces storm into heart of militant stronghold city of Ramadi

Iraq’s armed forces stormed the center of Ramadi yesterday, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism units said, in a drive to dislodge Islamic State militants from their stronghold in a city they captured in May.

The operation to recapture Ramadi, a Sunni Muslim city on the river Euphrates some 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, began in early November after a months-long effort to cut off supply lines to the city, whose fall to Islamic State was a major defeat for Iraq’s weak central government.