Ramadi A day after liberation

If the offensive in Ramadi succeeds, it will be the second main city to be retaken from Islamic State after Tikrit, in April. Officials said it would be handed over to the local police and to a Sunni tribal force once secured. After Ramadi, the army plans to move to retake the northern city of Mosul, the biggest population centre under Islamic State control in Iraq and Syria. Dislodging the militants from Mosul, which had a pre-war population close to two million, would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents.