After months of gains, Iraqi forces stymied at ISIS-held city

Iraqi forces, slowed by roadside bombs and heavy mortar fire, are meeting unexpectedly high resistance as they lead an offensive to reclaim the city of Hit in western Anbar province from Islamic State (ISIS) militants. Recent rainfall slickens the already-treacherous roads, and military convoys pushing toward the city’s center constantly veer off the road to avoid explosives.

“We’ve never had a delay like this on one of our targets,” said Gen. Husham al-Jabri of Iraq’s counterterrorism forces.

ISIS-held Hit is no ordinary target, according to Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition officials, who say the city lies strategically along an ISIS supply line linking fighters in Iraq to fighters in Syria. A victory at Hit would slash militant assets and allow anti-ISIS forces to link up to the west and north of Baghdad before an eventual push on Mosul, the largest ISIS-occupied city in Iraq.

But the road to reclaiming the city is less straightforward than Iraqi forces hoped.

ISIS produces roadside bombs on an industrial scale and uses them defensively, planting them in elaborate networks for a minefield effect. ISIS-occupied cities such as Hit are littered with explosives to keep people from coming or going, freezing civilians in place.

Iraq’s counterterrorism forces say 20,000 civilians are still trapped inside the city of Hit.

National forces this week began escorting endangered families to the outskirts of town and loading them in trucks to escape.

“We have no idea where we are going,” said Azha Hadel, a mother with three small children. “We want to go anywhere, anywhere that's safe.” Iraqi counterterrorism forces at the scene said they were bringing families to a nearby camp.

The Hit offensive comes on the heels of nearly six months of territorial victories for Iraqi forces. In February, Iraqi and coalition officials declared Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, fully liberated from ISIS control. Coalition officials estimate ISIS has lost more than 40 percent of its territory in Iraq since the summer of 2014.

“Daesh fighters now are stuck,” said Capt. Aysar Hassan, of Iraq’s counterterrorism battalion, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “In Ramadi, they all had places to run away to. Now they don’t have a way to escape.”

Sunday, the U.S.-led coalition launched three airstrikes targeting ISIS fighters, a car bomb, and a heavy machine gun, according to a statement from the Pentagon.

But ISIS militants are putting up a fight, retaliating against recent Iraqi advances with a spate of large-scale bomb attacks targeting civilians. According to the United Nations, at least 1,119 Iraqis were killed and 1,561 wounded in March, a sharp increase from the previous month.

Monday, Islamic militants unleashed a series of suicide bomb attacks across Iraq, killing 29 and wounding at least 60. The deadliest blast took place at a restaurant on the main highway linking Baghdad to the southern provinces, killing at least 14 people and injuring another 27. Local police say the eatery was popular with Shiite paramilitary fighters.

In the past week, the surge in violence between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants has sparked a mass exodus, displacing more than 2,000 civilians. The UN estimates there are nearly 3.3 million internally displaced people across the nation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.