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 The United States is promising to help Iraqi forces retake Ramadi from the Islamic State militant group, though officials worry the looming battles could play to the terror group’s advantage, win or lose….

Just days after saying the Islamic State was on the defensive across Iraq, the U.S. military Monday tried to downplay Ramadi’s fall, portraying it as a part of the ebb and flow of a “complex, bloody fight.”

“This is something that we’ve known is a possibility for some time,” said Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren. “What this is means is that we now have to, along with our Iraqi partners, retake Ramadi.”

“There is no denying that this is indeed a setback,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with U.S. President Barack Obama Monday. “There is also no denying that we will help the Iraqis take back Ramadi.”

The U.S. refused to give any timeline for how long it would take to reclaim the city, 125 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, calling it an Iraqi decision, while the Pentagon emphasized the U.S. role would be limited to supplying air power to back-up Iraqi operations on the ground.

Iraqi Battle Plans Altered By IS Capture Of Ramadi 
The capture of Iraq’s Sunni city of Ramadi by Islamic State (IS) militants has fundamentally changed how war is being waged against the extremists in Iraq’s Sunni areas. …

Nearly 25,000 flee Ramadi amid ISIL attacks and heavy fighting, says UN relief wing 
With stocks running low and funds running out, United Nations aid agencies are rushing humanitarian assistance to people fleeing the city of Ramadi in central Iraq for the second time this month, according to the UN office tasked with coordinating relief operations. …