January 19, 2016: At the end of 2015 Australia revealed that 80 of its SAS commandos played a crucial role in helping Iraqi forces retake Ramadi (the capital of Anbar province) in a battle that began on December 8th and was largely complete by the end of December. The Australian SAS were advising one of the two Iraqi brigades that led the assault of the city. What made the SAS men key was that they could call in air strikes and they did so, at the rate over fifty a day when the fighting was most intense. The accurate air support was important because although there were only about a thousand ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) men defending the city center they did so from hundreds of trenches and bunkers which were surrounded by even more roadside bombs and landmines. The SAS had helped train the brigade they were assisting and worked out procedures for the Iraqi troops in contact with the enemy to quickly and accurately report that to the SAS who would confirm the location of friendly and enemy forces and call in the smart bomb or missile strike. This led to the destruction of most of the fanatic defenders and the rapid recapture of Ramadi with low (about a hundred) dead among the attacking troops. Some of the ISIL men who survived fled were publicly executed by ISIL to remind their fighters that retreat is not an option.