Fierce fighting as ISIS push towards Baghdad

May 19, 2015 03:52

ISIS forces pushed east Monday from their fresh victory in Ramadi as the Iraqi government rushed reinforcements to shore up defensive lines meant to stop the terror group's advance.

Iraqi and U.S. officials promised eventual defeat for the self-proclaimed Islamic State, but the loss of the strategically and symbolically important city of Ramadi -- just 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of Iraq's heavily fortified capital of Baghdad -- had taken its toll.

"This is a huge setback to Iraqi forces and to the U.S. strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS," said retired U.S. Army Col. Peter Mansoor, a CNN military analyst.

That effort Monday was focused east of the city, where tribal and local forces had set up defensive lines west of the cities of Khalidiya and Husaybah, said Ibrahim Hassan Khalaf al-Fahdawi, head of the Security Council in Khalidiya, and Mahmaoud al-Fahdawi, a leader in the Albu Fahad Sunni tribe.

They were joined by a brigade from the Iraqi Federal Police and another from the government's quick reaction forces, the officials said.

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