An Iranian sponsored sectarian army comprising of Al Qods Brigades, Shiite militias and Iraqi security personnel numbering nearly 12 000 has been beaten back with heavy casualties as it tried to advance on the Sunni city of Ramadi. The Islamic State captured Ramadi from the Iraqi Army when the latter fled in May this year. It remains the militant group’s most stunning success of late. Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni dominated central province of Anbar lies on a strategic location 110 km west of the capital Baghdad and sustained control of the city means Baghdad remains a potential target for the Salafi Jihadists.