Maliki pledges to “cleanse” Anbar of ISIS by start of Ramadan Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki speaks during a news conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Baghdad on January 13, 2014. (Reuters/Ahmed Saad) Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat —Iraqi Prime Minster Nuri Al-Maliki called for “jihad” against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq’s restive western Anbar province on Wednesday, pledging to crush the Islamist insurgency before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that is set to be begin in late June. In his weekly speech from Baghdad, Maliki also called for a “national dialogue” on Anbar, stressing that the Iraqi people must “stand with the security forces,” and that residents of Anbar must work with “their brothers from the tribes of Anbar and the local and central governments to accelerate the cleansing of Anbar” of ISIS militants. “Everybody must unite and return to the ranks of […]