Pentagon officials are desperately trying to downplay the reports of Ramadi falling to ISIS this weekend, saying they believe it is too soon to label the city completely lost.

Even if it is, and the indications from Iraqi officials are that they are in full retreat in the Anbar capital, Pentagon officials say they will simply help Iraq retake the city at some future date.

All indications are that this is a huge defeat for the Iraqi government, and the biggest city they’ve lost since Mosul last year.

At the same time, the Pentagon has tried to portray the city of 500,000 people just down the road from Baghdad as of no real strategic value, and its loss as irrelevant to the overall war.