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 The U.S.-led coalition stepped up air raids against the Islamists,
conducting 19 strikes in the vicinity of Ramadi over the past 72
hours at the request of the Iraqi security forces, a coalition
spokesman said.
A spokesman for the paramilitaries, which are known as Hashid
Shaabi, told Reuters they had received orders to mobilize, but
details could not be revealed for security reasons.
"Now that the Hashid has received the order to march forward, they
will definitely take part," said Ali al-Sarai, a member of the
Hashid Shaabi's media wing. "They were waiting for this order and
now they have it."
Ramadi is dominated by Sunni Muslims. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi
signed off on the deployment of Shi'ite militias to attempt to seize
back the area, a move he had previously resisted for fear of
provoking a sectarian backlash.
About 500 people have been killed in the fighting for Ramadi in
recent days and between 6,000 and 8,000 have fled, a spokesman for
the provincial governor said.
The city's fall marked a major setback for the forces ranged against
Islamic State: the U.S.-led coalition and the Iraqi security forces,
which have been propped up by Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias
 It was also a harsh return to reality for Washington, which at the
weekend had mounted a successful special forces raid in Syria in
which it said it killed an Islamic State leader in charge of the
group's black market oil and gas sales, and captured his wife.
While the Iraqi government and Shi'ite paramilitaries recaptured the
city of Tikrit from Islamic State last month, the major northern
city of Mosul remains under the control of the Islamists.
Islamic State said that in Ramadi it had seized tanks and killed
"dozens of apostates", its description for members of the Iraqi
security forces.
Earlier, security sources said government forces evacuated a
military base after it came under attack by the insurgents, who had
already taken one of the last districts still holding out.
It was the biggest victory for Islamic State in Iraq since security
forces and Shi'ite paramilitary groups began pushing the militants
back last year, aided by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition.
While the government in Baghdad has urged Sunni tribes in Anbar to
accept help from Shi'ite militia against Islamic State, many Sunnis
regard the Shi'ite fighters with deep hostility. Islamic State
portrays itself as a defender of Sunnis against the Iran-backed
Shi'ite fighters.
In an example of the sectarian mistrust, an Anbar Sunni tribal
leader now in exile in Erbil said the deployment of the Hashid
Shaabi showed that Baghdad's goal was to crush Sunnis.
Describing Anbar as the stronghold of Sunnis in Iraq, Sheikh Ali
Hamad said: "They wanted to destroy this citadel and break its walls
so that the Hashid could enter in order to spread Shi'ism."
TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence that the
takeover of Ramadi would be reversed in the coming weeks.
 He told a news conference in Seoul that Ramadi had been a target of
opportunity for the Islamists.
"I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed, and as the days
flow in the weeks ahead, that's going to change, as overall (they)
have been driven back ... I am absolutely confident in the days
ahead that will be reversed."
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The U.S. Defense Department tried to play down the impact of Islamic
State's seizure of the city. "Ramadi has been contested since last
summer and ISIL now has the advantage," Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa
Smith said, using an acronym for Islamic State. The loss of the city
would not mean the Iraq campaign was turning in Islamic State's
favor, but it would give the group a "propaganda boost".
"That just means the coalition will have to support Iraqi forces to
take it back later," Smith said, adding that the United States was
continuing to provide air support and advice.
The Iraqi government had vowed to liberate Anbar after routing the
militants from Tikrit. But the security forces, which partly
disintegrated under an Islamic State onslaught last June, have
struggled to make progress in the vast desert province.
An officer who withdrew from the besieged army base said the
militants - known in Arabic as Daesh - were urging them via
loudspeaker to discard their weapons, promising to show mercy in
return.
"Most of the troops withdrew from the operations command
headquarters and Daesh fighters managed to break in from the
southern gate," the officer said. "We are retreating to the west to
reach a safe area".
"TOTAL COLLAPSE"
Earlier on Sunday, Anbar provincial council member Athal Fahdawi
described the situation in Ramadi as "total collapse".
It was one of only a few towns and cities to have remained under
government control in the desert terrain, which borders Saudi
Arabia, Syria and Jordan.
Islamic State, which emerged as an offshoot of al Qaeda, controls
large parts of Iraq and Syria in a self-proclaimed caliphate where
it has carried out mass killings of members of religious minorities
and beheaded hostages.
A senior Israeli intelligence official said that before U.S.-led
coalition forces began operations against the group, its revenues
were running at about $65 million a month, more than 90 percent of
which came from its oil business and the rest from locally imposed
taxes and ransom money.
Since then, monthly revenues had fallen to about $20 million, of
which about 70 percent is from oil and the rest from taxes and
ransom.
(Reporting by Baghdad Bureau; Additional reporting by Matt
Spetalnick in Washington, Dan Williams in Jerusalem and David
Brunnstrom in Seoul; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Peter
Graff)
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