This news comes amid observations that Iraqi soldiers are unwilling to take the fight to the Islamic State, so you can look at this report with a justified amount of scepticism.
Iraq, Syria armies prepare counterattacks against ISIS amid massacre reports
Iraqi and Syrian armed forces prepared to launch two counterattacks against ISIS militants over the weekend after losing two key cities to the terror group last week.
Reuters reported that Iraqi forces launched a counterattack Saturday to retake the city of Ramadi in Anbar province. The reported offensive was backed by locally recruited Sunni tribal fighters and Shiite militiamen trained by Iran. A Sunni pro-government fighter told Reuters that his forces had retaken the town of Husaiba al-Sharqiya, about 6 miles east of Ramadi, though that had not been officially confirmed.
The U.S. has sought to reach out on its own to Sunni tribes and is training some Sunni fighters, but those efforts have been limited by the small number of American troops on the ground. On Sunday, the Pentagon announced that four airstrikes had been carried out near Ramadi by the U.S.-led coalition, destroying 19 armored vehicles.
