Iraqis repel most significant Islamic State attack in 7 months -U.S. military

By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces backed
by coalition warplanes repelled two major Islamic State
offensives this week in combat that showed Iraqi troops
increasingly are becoming "solid fighting forces," a U.S.
military official said on Friday.
In the most significant Islamic State military operation in
Iraq in seven months, a battalion-sized unit of some 500 Islamic
State militants attacked the Kurdish forward line in northern
Iraq, penetrating it in three locations before being stopped and
repelled, U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren told a briefing.
The attack came a day after a company-sized unit of Islamic
State fighters using truck bombs tried to break through Iraqi
lines to Ramadi, briefly seizing the city's Palestine bridge
before being stopped and repelled, said Warren, a spokesman for
the U.S.-led military coalition.
"In each place ISIL was able to muster an offensive effort,
which tells us that they've still got some fight left in them.
However, and much more importantly, in each fight Iraqi forces
were able to rebuff ISIL's efforts," Warren told a Pentagon
teleconference, using an acronym for Islamic State.
"This is still a war ... so we shouldn't be Pollyanna-ish
about that," he added. "On the other hand, what this tells us
also is that the forces we're aligned with ... are now becoming
solid fighting forces."
The fight in northern Iraq began at 4:17 p.m. local time on
Wednesday when Islamic State fighters in small groups using
filtration tactics opened fire with rockets on a peshmerga
position near the village of Bashiqa, not far from the town of
Tal Aswad, Warren said.
The rocket fire kicked off the attack by a battalion-sized
force of fighters that temporarily broke through the Kurdish
lines at Tal Aswad, Bashiqa and Nawaran using construction
vehicles like excavators to breach berms and other defensive
positions, he said.
Warplanes from five coalition countries responded with
overnight air strikes, dropping about 100 precision munitions
that destroyed the construction vehicles, killed nearly 200
militants and slowed the attack until peshmerga forces regrouped
and repelled them the following morning, Warren said.
Canadian forces at a headquarters unit several miles behind
the Kurdish lines contributed mortar fire to help the peshmerga
stop the Islamic State fighters, Warren said. While U.S. forces
are advising the peshmerga in some areas, they were 15 miles (25
km) or more from this fight, he added.
"This is the most significant attack that the enemy has been
able to mount, really since Ramadi (was captured in May). And if
this is all they've got, things are going to begin to get worse
and worse for this enemy," Warren said.
The initial Islamic State attack on Ramadi on Tuesday
morning broke through Iraqi defenses on the Palestine bridge
north of the city, opening the way toward the military's Anbar
operations center, Warren said.
But Iraqi troops were able to regroup, stop the attack and
destroy Islamic State's truck bombs before they could damage the
operations center, Warren said. With coalition air support, they
were able to counterattack and regain control of the bridge.
Some 59 Islamic State fighters were killed.