| Ar-Rutbah offensive (2016) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theWar in Iraq and theAnbar campaign (2015–16) | |||||||
.jpg) Ar-Rutbah in 2009. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
Air support CJTF-OIR |  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Haider al-Abadi | Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi(Leader) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,000+ fighters[1] | 100–400 militants[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 4 killed, 5 wounded[3] | 100+ killed[4] | ||||||
TheBattle ofAr-Rutbah was a military offensive inIraq launched by theIraqi Army to recapture the strategic town ofAr-Rutbah fromISIL, along with the rest of theAr-Rutba District.
On March 13, a senior Iraqi general reported that ISIL had fully withdrawn from the city ofAr-Rutbah toAl-Qa'im, beginning the night before. This withdrawal was confirmed by a member of Anbar's security council, and it was also reported that ISIL had abandoned the town ofKabisa and withdrawn from Hīt to some extent, leading to Iraqi warplanes bombing the retreating militants. This was the first time ISIL withdrew from a major urban area without an actual fight, following recent battlefield losses for ISIL in Syria and in the Anbar Province, including a recent offensive on Hīt.[5][6][7] However, ISIL returned to the town on the following day.[8]
On May 16, following the killing of local ISIL commanderAbu Waheeb, the Iraqi Army launched an offensive to reclaim Ar-Rutbah and the rest of the Ar-Rutba District.[2] The Iraqi Army attacked the town from three directions.[9] A US official stated that Ar-Rutbah wasn't as well defended by ISIL as Ramadi or Fallujah, with estimates of 100 to several hundred ISIL militants based in the town.[2] On May 17, the commander of Anbar Operations, Major General Hadi Rseg announced that Iraqi Army fully recaptured Ar-Rutbah, and its surrounding areas in the Ar-Rutbah District.[10] During the clashes, at least 4 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 5 more were wounded,[3] while around 100 ISIL fighters were killed.[4] The town holds strategic value as it lies on key transit routes between Iraq andJordan,[11] and its recapture denied ISIL a "critical support zone."[12]
