shia militias now joining the fight in rimadi. that's likely to prove controversial. >> controversial and will likely backfire. isil is close to overrunning the last government stronghold in rimadi city, the headquarters of the anbar command center. isil is on the defensive the government on the defensive and now the council is allowing shia led militia to say join this fight. like you said, at the end of the day, the anbar provincial council is not representative of all sunni tribes and is also allied with the government. there are many influential tribes in anbar who warned against this decision for sometime now. just a few days ago that it was warned against saying we will consider this as iranian occupation of our province. what does this mean? are these sunni tribes going to fight alongside isil? the government needs to bring the people onboard to win the fight. a military option alone is not enough. >> thank you for that from baghdad. let's across to kimberly in washington d.c. tell us the latest on these adjustment led airs

what's the latest you're hearing from rimadi?> well, this is really a major blow to the government. a military setback what we understand from people on the ground as well as officials is that the islamic state of iraq and the levant has managed to penetrate inside the compound, a compound housing government buildings. really, the symbols of the state are now in the hands of isil. yes, you mentioned that they do, the government does control a number of neighborhoods, but people are worried that the city has fallen. this is what the people have ramadi have been telling us. it was a very fierce assault. we understand that isil used six suicide bombers to penetrate inside the compound. a lot of heavy weapons and people trapped in the middle of this fierce battle, so for the time being the government compound is in the hands of isil. >> this begs the question what now for the iraq government. >> the government has face add lot of criticism and number of members of the provincial council in anbar as well as sunni tribal leaders have w

. >> taking back rimadi. iraq sends in reinforcements as the u.s. agrees to support shia militias at least for now. >> tension in texas after a gang shootout kills nine. biker culture is under scrutiny. >> shell faces hundreds of dollars in fines as protestors try to send that company packing. good morning to you. welcome to al jazeera america. live from new york city, i'm morgan radford. new questions about the obama administration strategy fighting isil in iraq. rimadi, a key city is under isil said control and despite a series of u.s. rare strikes this i also a big setback for the u.s. owe litigation fighting isil. forces are preparing to retake the city. it is less than 70 miles from baghdad and significant to a lot of american families, since one in three u.s. casualties occurred in that region during the iraq war. today, it's completely a ghost town abandoned by the iraqi army after two days of fighting. retaking ramadi will be no small feat. >> shia led militias are preparing on the offensive isil on the offensive. check have up to eight poli

. >> there's been heavy fighting in the iraqi city rimadi. isil fighters captured most of the city, including a major government compound. let's go live to baghdad. there's been more fierce fighting in rimadi. what's the latest? >> the islamic state of iraq and the levant is trying to overrun the last government stronghold in the city of are are ramadi. isil used suicide bombers and killed up to 22 iraqi army and police officers in that attack. the government also controlled an adjacent neighborhood, that is now under isil's control. isil is taking more ground. the government fighting is back but we do not know whether the government can actually repel this advance and hold on to this compound p.m. like you mentioned on friday, the rimadi compound fell into isil's control. isil released video showing its fighters walking in the streets sending a message that the provincial capitol of anbar is in their hands. you can see it's an empty city, hundreds of families have been forced to flee the fighting and we understand that the human suffering is

>> rimadi belongs to isil for now. that video was released by the group.vincial capitol of anbar seems abandoned after a three day offensive that pushed government forces out. according to government officials, up to 500 security personnel and civilians were killed either in the fighting while others who worked for the government were murdered by isil. >> now iraq's shia militias are ready to launch a counter offensive against isil in ramadi. they operate under the government-sanctioned popular mobilization forces. they were responsible for pushing isil from the provinces but they have been accused of human rights abuses and many people have sometime not returned to their homes. >> the regular army and the local police were no match for isil. many were seen escaping from the city. many sunni leaders blame the government for the fall of the city. >> right now, we have very few options on the ground, but the best is to train and arm the local tribes, because the only group operating under the command of the prime minister is the shia militia coalition. unfor

. >> iraq shia militia's launching fighters to recapture rimadi from isil. the iranian government offered its help to the iraq government hours after isil took control of the capitol of anbar province. residents are trying to find ref final in baghdad. that's where we pick up the story. >> according to the international organization for migration, 8,000 people were forced to leave ramadi when fighters belonging to islamic state of iraq and the levant advanced into their city. people headed towards baghdad are being questioned before being allowed to enter the capitol. >> why aren't we allowed to go to baghdad? aren't we in the same country? we can't cope. it is better to die than to live this life. >> anger towards the shia led government runs deep in the mainly sunni province of anbar. there is also a feeling among people that they've been betrayed. >> we spent two days on the road. we were humiliated at government check points along the way. we can't understand how security forces just retreated and withdrew. why did they do that? >> rimadi belongs to isil

led coalition steps up airstrikes trying to regain control of rimadi by shia

. >> taking back rimadi. iraq sends in reinforcements as the u.s. support shia militias at least for now. >> tension in texas after a gang shootout kills nine. biker culture is under scrutiny. >> shell faces hundreds of dollars in fines as protestors try to send that company packing.

large evident province with isil taking control of government headquarters in the provincial capitol, rimadigrants stranded off thailand with no country willing to take them in. >> three generals arrested in burundi and the president says he's back independent country after a failed