In late April, a commander for Islamic State said his forces were ready to launch an offensive to take Ramadi, and the group called for fighters to redeploy to Iraq from Syria.<\/p>\n
Three weeks later, the jihadist group seized the capital of Anbar province after relentless waves of suicide bombings.<\/p>\n
U.S. defense chief Ash Carter has blamed Ramadi\u2019s fall mainly on Iraqi forces\u2019 lack of will to fight. But Islamic State\u2019s battlefield performance suggests the terrorist group\u2019s tactical sophistication is growing\u201d\u201da development the Iraqis and the U.S.-led coalition have so far failed to counter, said Iraqi officials, former U.S. officials and military analysts studying the organization.<\/p>\n
An examination of how Ramadi fell indicates that Islamic State commanders executed a complex battle plan that outwitted a greater force of Iraqi troops as well as the much-lauded, U.S.-trained special-operations force known as the Golden Division, which had been fighting for months to defend the city.<\/p>\n