ISIS offensives forcing Iraqi army to focus on defending Baghdad

On Monday, at least 48 people were killed and 200 people were wounded in ISIS suicide bombings and shootings in Baghdad and the other areas – the highest number of casualties from ISIS attacks in three months.
The Islamic State is still strongly on the offensive, although Western military sources are trying to present the Iraqi army as gaining the upper hand in the fighting, including exaggerated reports of Iraqi attacks on ISIS positions around Mosul.

In fact, since Iraqi forces captured the center of the ruined city of Ramadi, ISIS fighters have been waging guerrilla warfare from the eastern outskirts.The jihadists are also pushing forward in three additional sectors: Haditha in the western Anbar province; the Baghdad al-Jadidah Shiite district of south Baghdad; and Muqdadiyah in the eastern province of Diyala. They are forcing the Iraqi army to divert strength from other sectors to defend the capital.