united states that they are contemplating now giving weapons directly to the sunni tribes. that is very controversy. something that baghdad has been very afraid of. they don t want to give too much out for sunnis. there is a lot of mistrust there. but they are very important for retaking this area. anbar province is predominantly sunni, so they will be needed to retake the area. but we are also hearing that there have been air strikes in and around ramadi, trying to soften the target. when we look at the battle for tikrit, the air strikes are crucial for the last push to really retake the city. so they will be, appears to be crucial, for retaking ramadi. though major operations right now have not begun to retake the city. it ll be it ll be a challenge for sure. we thank you ian lee continuing to follow developments in iraq for us out of cairo.
forces proven to be instrumental in the battle for tikrit. given the ability for sectarian tensions to rise. they are working alongside the sunni tribes. those tribes do need more weapons and there are calls on the iraqi government to begin an effort to arm them. iraqis we have been speaking to are bristling at the u.s. defense secretary that the iraqi army did not have the will to fight. they would counter that by saying they have been fighting in ramadi for well over a year. as far as november they were calling on the u.s. to up its air strikes in the area and also calling on the iraqi government to send them more reinforcements. a soldier that we spoke to was saying the issue was not with the soldiers fighting on the ground but rather with their leadership and a fragmented logistical route that left them
he has been quite active in the battlefield in iraq especially when it came to the battle for tikrit. he said that it was the u.s. that has no will to fight isis and is quote, doing nothing. going on to state today, nobody is confronting isis properly, except iran. even the countries that iran is supporting saying that basically, iran was confronting isis more than even iraq itself. interesting in all of this was some of the reaction we heard from baghdad residents they said that they were concerned about isis advancing towards the capital but they felt that baghdad would not fall. why? they said not because they believe that the iraqi security forces would defend the capital, but because they said iran would not allow it to fall to isis. all right, arwa damon reporting live from baghdad this morning. one expert says defending isis after the fall of ramadi is like a game of whack-a-mole and writes quote the problem is that the coalition efforts and the iraqi government s actions are
navigating the battlefield is going to be incredibly difficult. the battle for ramadi is going to be nothing like the battle for tikrit. this is something that has the to materialize very quickly. because isis has proven that it is capable of adapting to the dynamics on the ground. the concern is that, by trying to push towards bag chdad it wi bog down the fighting force along various front lines and potentially leave it vulnerable elsewhere. arwa damon, cnn, baghdad. the u.s. will deliver a new shipment of anti-tank weapons to iraq next month. a state department official tells reuters the shoulder fired missiles are meant to prevent bombings like isis used to capture ramadi. the unnamed source says the terror group carried out at least 30 car and truck bombings, some as big as the truck bomb that killed 168 people in oklahoma city back in 1995.
fallujah. they have been receiving in reinforcements. but the battle for ramadi is not going to be anything like the battle for tikrit. the lay of the land is very different. the dynamics in al anbar province are more complex. moving reinforcements out to those various different front lines is much more difficult as well because of the territory that isis controls in al anbar province. how long the units that are fighting along the front lines around ramadi are going to be able to hold out without additional reinforcements, that also remains to be seen. we re seeing the iraqi government calling for more volunteer units to move towards al anbar. the u.s. saying it s speeding up its shipment of weapons but it may at the end of the day be too little too late. isis is proving to be a much more formidable foe than many had anticipated. ar washes thank you very much. she spent a lot of time on the ground in recent weeks. covering isis. as she said, a more formidable foe than many gave it c