ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US military confirmed on Friday that the Anbar province town of Rutbah has been completely recaptured from Islamic State (ISIS) and is "secure."
The head of the US counter-ISIS Operation Inherent Resolve, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, said the Iraqi forces are proving to be "resilient and effective."
The Iraqi Army and their Sunni tribesmen allies are advancing against ISIS-occupied towns and villages across Anbar as part of Operation Desert Lynx.
Rutbah is situated in Anbar's southwest and is strategically important since it sits on the main road linking Iraq and Jordan. An estimated $1 billion worth of trade between Iraq and the outside world travels on that road. Its reopening could benefit Iraq's struggling economy.
The spokesman for the US-led coalition, Col. Steve Warren, summed-up Rutbah's importance on Thursday just before ISIS was forced from the town, pointing out that it has an "out-sized strategic value," and its recapture "will impact the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and will deny ISIL a critical support zone as well."
Rutbah's liberation comes ahead of the long anticipated liberations of both Mosul and Raqqa from ISIS.
"Now the focus of the campaign is shifting more toward taking back the enemies' centers of gravity in Iraq and Syria, Mosul and Raqqa," said MacFarland on Friday, according to CNN.
MacFarland says he is "reluctant to make predictions," but said the US does not want to rush its anti-ISIS allies on the ground and have them "achieve fragile victories," in the process.
"We want to make sure their victories are irreversible," MacFarland said.
The head of the US counter-ISIS Operation Inherent Resolve, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, said the Iraqi forces are proving to be "resilient and effective."
The Iraqi Army and their Sunni tribesmen allies are advancing against ISIS-occupied towns and villages across Anbar as part of Operation Desert Lynx.
Rutbah is situated in Anbar's southwest and is strategically important since it sits on the main road linking Iraq and Jordan. An estimated $1 billion worth of trade between Iraq and the outside world travels on that road. Its reopening could benefit Iraq's struggling economy.
The spokesman for the US-led coalition, Col. Steve Warren, summed-up Rutbah's importance on Thursday just before ISIS was forced from the town, pointing out that it has an "out-sized strategic value," and its recapture "will impact the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and will deny ISIL a critical support zone as well."
Rutbah's liberation comes ahead of the long anticipated liberations of both Mosul and Raqqa from ISIS.
"Now the focus of the campaign is shifting more toward taking back the enemies' centers of gravity in Iraq and Syria, Mosul and Raqqa," said MacFarland on Friday, according to CNN.
MacFarland says he is "reluctant to make predictions," but said the US does not want to rush its anti-ISIS allies on the ground and have them "achieve fragile victories," in the process.
"We want to make sure their victories are irreversible," MacFarland said.
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