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A column of Shiite militia fighters arrived at a military base near Ramadi Monday as Baghdad moved to retake the western Iraqi city that fell to ISIS militants in the biggest defeat for the government since last summer, Reuters reports.

The U.S.-led coalition stepped up air 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.

The militia, known as Hashid Shaabi or Popular Mobilisation, had been ordered to mobilise after the city, the capital of Anbar province, was overrun on Sunday.

The militiamen give the government far more capability to launch a counterattack, but their arrival could add to sectarian animosity in one of the most violent parts of Iraq.

"Hashid Shaabi forces reached the Habbaniya base and are now on standby," said the head of the Anbar provincial council, Sabah Karhout.

An eyewitness described a long line of armoured vehicles and trucks mounted with machine guns and rockets, flying the yellow flags of Kataib Hezbollah, one of the militia factions, heading towards the base.

Spokesmen for militia groups said reconnaissance and planning were underway for the upcoming "battle of Anbar", the vast Euphrates River valley province where the U.S. military fought the biggest battles of its 11-year occupation.