Ramadi

Ramadi (Arabic: ٱلرَّمَادِي Ar-Ramādī; also formerly rendered as Rumadiyah or Rumadiya) is a city in central Iraq, about 110 kilometers (68 mi) west of Baghdad and 50 kilometers (31 mi) west of Fallujah.

The area has previously been a war center between ISIL and the Iraqi government.^[1] It was heavily damaged during the Iraq War, when it was a major focus for the insurgency against occupying United States forces. Following the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq in 2011, the city was contested in late 2013 by the Iraqi government and the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and eventually fell to ISIL in May 2015. On 28 December 2015, the Iraqi government declared, confirming media testimonies, that it had re-taken Ramadi, that government's first major military victory since its loss. However, Ramadi was highly damaged afterwards, with some estimates as high as 90% of the city being destroyed during the fighting. It has since seen large reconstruction and mostly been rebuilt from the ruins of war.^[2]