Militants’ use of human shields slows progress in Ramadi

RAMADI, Iraq: Six times in the past harrowing month, Um Omar and her family got a knock on the door of whatever home they were occupying in the extremist-held city of Ramadi: It was a Daesh militant, she said, ordering them to pick up and move with them as human shields because the Iraqi Army was approaching.
“Every time the army would advance, Daesh would knock on our door and say, ‘OK, time to go,’” the woman said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The knock came again Thursday morning in the Soufiya neighborhood of northeastern Ramadi, Um Omar said, and to her surprise it was the counterterrorism forces of the Iraqi military. She and about 60 other people had just been rescued.
It’s still a little unclear to her what happened to the extremists, said the woman, who spoke on condition she not be identified by her full name to protect relatives who may still be trapped in Ramadi.
As Iraqi government forces have advanced from west to east from downtown Ramadi and expelled Daesh militants in December, the extremists have pulled back with their civilian captives as shields, leaving behind houses booby-trapped with explosives and roadside bombs.
Fighters with the elite counterterrorism forces that are leading operations in the Anbar provincial capital say the practice is slowing them down and complicating the already-messy challenge of house- to-house urban warfare.
Heavy airstrikes and the Daesh group’s scorched-earth practices have left most of Ramadi in ruins. The devastating combination razed nearly every building along its main thoroughfare. On most city blocks, no house is spared damage; others are reduced to rubble.
But as Iraqi forces continue to advance, evacuations like the one that brought Um Omar and her family to safety are draining time and resources from the fight to retake territory, according to troops and commanders.
“The main problem now are the civilians, that is what’s slowing our progress,” said Maj. Gen. Fadhil Barwari, the commander of the counterterrorism unit in Ramadi.