Inside Story

Inside Story: ISIL fights back

The battle for Iraq has taken another twist after ISIL fighters took control of large parts of the city of Ramadi.

The battle for Iraq has taken another twist after ISIL fighters took control of large parts of the city of Ramadi.

It comes just weeks after Iraqi forces triumphantly took the city of Tikrit and looked set to march on other ISIL strongholds in Anbar province. Ramadi is the regional capital and is just 100km from Baghdad. 

On Friday ISIL fighters used multiple suicide attacks to break through defences and capture key government buildings in the city.

The city’s authorities say their appeals for help were largely ignored by the government in Baghdad.

People are continuing to flee Ramadi. More than 100,000 have fled in the last month alone.

ISIL has been in control of most of Anbar province since last year. After suffering some recently military setbacks, including reports that some of its leaders have been killed or injured, ISIL can now claim a major victory.

So were reports of ISIL’s demise premature? And can the Iraqi government still win back large areas of the country under the group’s control?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Baghdad: Jaber Al-Jaberi, who’s a member of the Iraqi National Assembly.

London: Fawaz Gerges, chair of contemporary Middle East Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Doha: Security expert Martin Reardon, who’s Senior Vice President of the Soufan Group.