Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that exclusive lists of terrorist organisations fighting in Syria that are supposed to be released in mid- January after international coordination of intelligence include Shi’ite factions and figures; some of whom are prominent leaders in the Iraqi Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi militias. The sources added that the Iraqi National Security Adviser Falih al-Fayadh’s current visit to Moscow is related to these lists and aims to present a request from the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to the Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay the release of these lists, especially as some of those whose names were mentioned “were included in an amnesty issued in 2008 and are now fighting terrorism within Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi which is a part of the Iraqi military system”.

In a related development, Al-Abadi headed to the city of Ramadi yesterday, a day after the leader of the joint operations announced its liberation, and a security source in Al-Anbar governorate revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that a missile attack took place whilst the prime minister was in the Jisr Al-Qasim area which is located in the centre of the city, and he therefore immediately left the area.

Asharq Al-Awsat reporters yesterday saw the extent of destruction in Ramadi after seven months under the control of ISIS and noticed that residential neighbourhoods had been completely destroyed and buildings razed to the ground.