A column of 3,000 Shiite militia fighters arrived at a military base near Ramadi on Monday as Baghdad moved to retake the western Iraqi city that fell to Islamic State militants over the weekend in the biggest defeat for the government since mid-2014.
Setting the stage for renewed fighting over the city, Islamic State militants advanced in armored vehicles from Ramadi toward the base where the Shiite paramilitaries were massing for a counteroffensive, witnesses and a military officer said.
Warplanes in the U.S.-led coalition stepped up raids against the Islamists, conducting 19 strikes near Ramadi over the past 72 hours at the request of the Iraqi security forces, a coalition spokesman said.