The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (1-3ID)is currently engaged in street to street fighting in central Ramadi. The much anticipated attack follows months of hands off policy as troops were routinely sniped and attacked with orders not to retaliate.
After much planning U.S. forces along with a collection of hired local tribesmen from nearby Sofia (a suburb of Ramadi) and other groups are attacking and clearing the are house by house. The tribes have been formed into paramilitary units called "Emergency Response Units" and are linked with U.S. troops.
The 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment (1-9), 2nd Infantry Division has been given the dirty job of house to house combat in Ramadi's center. Many of the houses have been booby trapped in anticipation of the attack. The U.S. Military estimates that there are around 60 insurgents remaining in the area of 15,000 people. Initial estimates put the insurgent numbers at between 100 and 200.
The city of half a million is a Sunni stronghold and the objective is to establish a foothold in a rundown collection of abandoned and destroyed homes called the Mulaab district. Ultimately the U.S. and Iraqi forces hope to build and hold nine fortified police stations to control the city.
