Islamic State Seizes Government Headquarters in Ramadi, Iraq

Hey, we've got the terrorists on the run!

Oh wait. They're running the wrong way. Shoot!

At WSJ, "Islamic State Militants Make Gains in Key Iraq Province":

Islamic State fighters seized the government compound in the city of Ramadi on Friday and besieged hundreds of government forces nearby, coming closer to controlling the capital of Iraq’s largest province, officials said.

The compound’s capture marks a setback to the government’s offensive against the extremist group in Anbar, the Sunni province that borders Baghdad, and complicates the Shiite-led government’s ties with the province’s Sunni tribes as they cooperate to expel the militants.

Many of Anbar’s leaders have pleaded for more help from Baghdad to stave off recent Islamic State gains in their province, Iraq’s Sunni heartland. But Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has calibrated his support, sending security forces and arms, but not the powerful Shiite militias that have in recent months helped to drive Islamic State out of central Iraq, including the city of Tikrit.

Anbar’s Sunni tribes are split on whether they need the Shiite militias, and some U.S. and Iraqi officials fear their participation would inflame sectarian tensions and undermine the government.

“The government response has been very weak,” said Rajeh Barakat, an Anbar tribal leader and member of the local provincial council.

Iraqi’s parliament speaker, Salim al-Jabouri, warned on Friday that Ramadi might fall to Islamic State, saying that its collapse “would have consequences on the national security level.”

U.S. officials played down the development, characterizing the Islamic State gains in Ramadi, as well as in the fight to control the oil refinery in Beiji, in Salahudeen province, as ephemeral victories that are likely to be reversed sooner or later. The difficult fights in both places haven’t yet sparked any high-level concern about the U.S. strategy, American military officials said on Friday...

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