Iraq's army

Two weeks after declaring victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Ramadi, Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces have pushed militants out to its eastern suburbs, but bombs littering the streets are holding up efforts to rebuild the city, officials said.

U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter called Iraq's Kurdish fighters a model for the kind of force needed to defeat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as he made an unannounced visit on July 24 to the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants detonated a car bomb and then opened fire on Iraqi troops in the western province of Anbar on June 25, killing 14 soldiers, security sources said.

Iraqi government forces and their Shi'ite militia allies are hoping to recapture Anbar's provincial capital Ramadi, which was seized by the ultra-hardline Sunni insurgents last month. 

The United States has done "nothing" to help Iraq's army battle jihadists in Ramadi, according to a senior Iranian general involved in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Russia offered visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi military and other aid on May 21 to help push back the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who have made further sweeping gains in both Iraq and Syria this week. 

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani warned that despite  victories in the war against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the global coalition against the group was inadequate and predicted a campaign to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul would not happen before the fall.