Iraq will take back Ramadi from IS ‘in days’ – PM Abadi

Thousands of civilians have fled the fighting in Ramadi

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi has said that the city of Ramadi could be taken back from Islamic State militants “in days”.

But he told the BBC that more support was needed from international coalition partners.

Iraqi forces have suffered a number of defeats at the hands of IS over the past year, and fled from a smaller militant force in Ramadi last week.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Sunday that the rout showed Iraqi troops lacked the will to fight.

Mr Carter told CNN’s State of the Union that the Iraqis had chosen to withdraw despite the fact that they “vastly outnumbered” IS forces.

Meanwhile the leader of the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, said the world faced an unprecedented danger from IS and other Sunni militant groups fighting in Syria.

Speaking to thousands of supporters via video link, he acknowledged for the first time that Hezbollah was fighting throughout Syria in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

Some observers say IS now controls 50% of Syria’s entire territory – as well as a third of Iraq.

‘Small nuclear bomb’

In a BBC interview, Mr Abadi said he was surprised at the US defence secretary’s comments.

“[Mr Carter] was very supportive of Iraq and I am sure he was fed with the wrong information,” he said.

The prime minister added that his forces were fazed by IS shock tactics.

BBC