video today of this fierce battle of trying to retake ramadi. the process is slow because they have left behind ieds. they predict that iraqi troops are very close to retaking the city completely. robyn kriel has more. reporter: this push to reclaim ramadi city center began in earnest on tuesday. iraqi security forces claim to be within the main government compound that is isis strong hold. they have three quarters of the city and have icy surrounded. there are about 300-500 inside the city. the extremists have rigged thousands of improvised explosive devices in cars, the
ground and homes to county the iraqi government forces assaults. civilians that were not able to flee the city are being asked to wave white flags. the iraqi government says they will be granted a safe passage. the recapture of ramadi would be a strategic victory and a morale boost for the troops. strategic because of its location from the baghdad highway and its proximity to the capital. a boost for the troops who were humiliated by the ease of which they fell to the terror group back in may. robyn kriel, cnn, london. thank you, robin. how crucial is the fight for ramadi? i want to bring in lieutenant general mark hertling, a cnn military analyst and a former u.s. army commanding journal and also cnn military analyst, lieutenant rick francona. gentlemen, this is critical. this area, ramadi, and the anbar
province is the heartland of the sunni tr sunni tribe. general, let me start with you. why do you think that the iraqi forces now feel they have to go in and do this? many more reasons than robyn just stated, deb. i think what you are also talking about is a resurgence of the iraqi security forces. it has shed itself of some very poor leaders it had during the final days of the maliki regime. it is also showing that the baghdad government is supporting those other than the shia militias. that s very important in ramadi. it is somewhat of an operational victory as it will be once they finish going through this particular town. also interesting is sort of the makeup of this. you do have the iraqi forces. you also have the sunni tribesmen who are going to maintain control of the land that they get.
than ramadi and we have long supply lines. this isn t going to happen in the next few weeks, but we re starting the process, and cutting the supply lines is crucial to that. do you think, very quickly, gentleman, this sort of chokes isis, in a way, at least here in ramadi, and perhaps even in mosul. or do those who leave ramadi go to mosul to defend it there? i ll start with you, general? it certainly does, deb. this has been the strategy all along. when many people were saying there wasn t a strategy, this was part of it. to cut the supply lines, cut the logistics. take out and destroy the leadership. make the population give the population a chance to rise, and at the same time, provide time for the iraqi security forces to build up. mosul is key, as rick just said, but there are going to be a lot of other fights before mosul. they have to take the iraqi security forces have to take two other cities on the way to mosul all to establish the base for
the supply lines is critical to that. do you think this sort of chokes isis at least here in ramadi and even in mosul or do those that leave ramadi go to mosul to defend it there. it certainly does. when many were saying there wasn t a strategy, this was part of it, cut the supply lines and the logistics, take out and destroy the leadership. give the population a chance to rise. at the same time, provide time for the iraqi security forces to build up. there are going to be a lot of other fights before mosul. they have to take a city called sherkot and another one on the way to mosul to establish the basis for resupply. i agree with what rick said. this is not going to take days or weeks but months before the