ISIS driven out, thousands return to Iraq’s Ramadi
Thousands of Iraqis have returned to the western city of Ramadi three months after Iraqi troops backed by US-led airstrikes drove ISIS out of the provincial capital, the city's mayor said Sunday. The returning families must go through security checks and are only allowed to return to areas cleared of mines and booby traps left […]Thousands of Iraqis have returned to the western city of Ramadi three months after Iraqi troops backed by US-led airstrikes drove ISIS out of the provincial capital, the city's mayor said Sunday.
The returning families must go through security checks and are only allowed to return to areas cleared of mines and booby traps left behind by the ISIS, Mayor Ibrahim al-Osaj said.
ISIS militants seized Ramadi last May and held the town until they were driven out in December. As in other cities and towns in Syria and Iraq, the fight to retake Ramadi demolished large parts of the city. Al-Osaj said seven neighborhoods are still off-limits to residents, not only because of the presence of explosives, but because the areas are "totally ruined."
He said authorities have restored drinking water for almost 80 percent of the city, refurbished ten schools and provided up to 600 caravans for those who can't use their houses. He said around 12,000 families have returned since late last month.
