by James Tweedie

IRAQ’S embattled government launched a military counter-offensive yesterday to recapture the city of Ramadi from Islamic State (Isis).

The operation aims to liberate the whole of Anbar province, stretching from west of Baghdad to the Syrian border and involves paramilitary forces from both Shi’ite and Sunni communities in addition to army units.

MP and Shi’ite militia spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi said that the operation would “not last for a long time” and that Iraqi forces had already surrounded Ramadi, the provincial capital, from three sides.

By the afternoon there were reports of fighting and air raids west and south of the city, which has a population of 500,000.

The US military pledged to provide some 2,000 anti-tank rockets to the Iraqi government to combat Isis and said it had carried out over 4,100 air strikes in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.

Isis also captured the central Syrian town of Tadmur and the ruins of its ancient predecessor Palmyra last week, where the Islamists have so far executed more than 400 state employees, captured soldiers and “government supporters”.

The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the atrocities yesterday and criticised as ineffective the US response to Isis agression — which includes arming and training Syrian anti-government rebels.

“Once again, we urge international and regional parties to abandon the vicious practice of using double standard approaches to fighting against terrorism and launch efficient co-operation with the governments of Middle East countries which are directly repelling the Isis offensive,” the ministry said.

“Islamic State is acting ever more actively and stops at nothing to reach its goal — to establish a transborder ‘caliphate’ on a vast area from Damascus to Baghdad.”

Moscow called for a united front against Isis, arguing that radicals could only be stopped on the basis of international law and UN security council resolutions.

The UN World Food Programme, for its part, appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared in Syria to allow farmers to harvest and sell their crops.

Executive director Ertharin Cousin warned that, without a “humanitarian pause,” people in some parts of the country would go hungry.