Iraqi troops pushed toward Fallujah from the south Friday, aiming to completely surround the militant-held city, Iraq's elite counterterrrorism forces said. The operation to retake the town from the extremist Islamic State group was officially announced late Sunday night. "Our troops are now in the process of surrounding the city from all (sides)," said Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, the head of the counterterrorism forces' Fallujah operation. "By doing so, we will besiege the city of Fallujah in full. And then we will start storming city from several directions with new forces." Fallujah is located 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad.
Protesters calling for comprehensive reforms run from tear gas fired by security forces in central Baghdad, Iraq
Booby-trapped explosives and large numbers of civilians unable to escape are expected to complicate operations moving forward, al-Saadi said. The spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites called on Iraqi forces battling to retake the city of Fallujah to protect civilians there. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said that "saving innocent people from harm's way is the most important thing, even more so than targeting the enemy." His comments were delivered at Friday prayers by his representative, Ahmed al-Safi, in the holy city of Karbala.
Rights groups have expressed concerns for the tens of thousands of civilians estimated to still be in the city, which has been in IS hands for more than two years. In the capital, Baghdad, Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in the city's Tahrir roundabout. The protesters assembled despite calls earlier this week from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to halt protests so the country's security forces could focus on the Fallujah operation.
Iraqi Troops Advance on IS-Held Fallujah | Military.com
In a televised address, Abadi said that some “pockets” of resistance remained in the city, about 45 miles west of Baghdad, but that it was largely under the control of Iraqi security forces. Earlier in the day, Iraqi forces had raised the country’s flag over the local council building, while commanders reported that they had retaken a string of neighborhoods as the militants abandoned positions. The Islamic State has been “broken” in the city, said Col. Abdelrahman al Khazali, a police spokesman. But the gains also compounded a growing humanitarian crisis in the surrounding province of Anbar, as thousands of civilians who had been trapped inside the city took advantage of the Islamic State’s collapsing grip to flee. Aid agencies working with the displaced said they were struggling to provide even basic assistance. Tents had run out, and food and water supplies were dangerously low. Defeating the Islamic State in Fallujah deprives the group of one of its last strongholds in Iraq and gives a boost to embattled Abadi. Backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, Iraq’s special forces have won a series of victories against the Islamic State elsewhere in the western province.
Iraqi government forces during operations Thursday west of Baghdad near Fallujah.
Fallujah, though, holds particular importance. Dubbed the “City of Mosques,” it is of symbolic significance to Sunni Muslims and was the first Iraqi city to fall to the militants. It was in Fallujah that U.S. forces saw their bloodiest fighting of the Iraq War, battling the Islamic State’s predecessor al-Qaeda on the city’s streets 12 years ago. “We promised to liberate Fallujah and today Fallujah was returned to the bosom of the country,” Abadi said in his speech. He went on to address the militants directly. “Your leaders have made promises to you and let you down, they promised you that they would withstand and they didn’t,” he said. “You have no place in this Iraq.”
After beginning their initial assault last month, Iraq’s elite special forces encountered a complex network of booby traps on the city’s outskirts. They said they expected the barricades to become easier to overcome after they broke through the city’s initial defense lines and also had hoped that a months-long siege on the city had weakened the militants inside. That appeared to be ringing true on Friday as Iraqi forces made their faster-than-expected gains. The militants “realized it’s a lost cause and they are running away,” said Maj. Gen. Saad Harbiya, an Iraqi army commander. Lt. Gen. Abdelwahab al-Saedi, commander of the Fallujah operation, said Iraq’s elite counterterrorism forces had surrounded the city’s hospital, which he said the militants were using as a base. The hospital was an early target for U.S. special forces and Iraqi troops as they began an assault on the city in 2004.
Saedi said his forces were within 50 yards of the building and were preparing to storm it. However, the presence of “some civilians” inside was delaying the operation, the Iraqi military later said. Commanders reported that the neighborhoods of Nazzal, Saray, Sinai and al-Andalus and the main cemetery had all been retaken. The central Jolan and Mualimin neighborhoods have not yet been secured, commanders said. Sabah al-Noori, a spokesman for Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, predicted that the entire city would be under the control of Iraqi government forces “soon.” Abadi said he expected the final militants to be expelled within hours.
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Elite Iraqi forces on Sunday retook the Islamic State group's last bastion in Fallujah, securing full control of the city after a month-long operation, a spokesman said. "Today the commander of Fallujah operations Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi announced that the city of Fallujah had been cleared after counter-terrorism forces (CTS) took control of the Jolan neighborhood," the force's spokesman, Sabah al-Noman, told AFP. "Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS. "It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."
Iraqi forces advance in the city of Fallujah.
A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah. "We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation ... the aim is to clear the whole area," the spokesman said. The Iraqi security forces launched a major offensive on May 22-23 to retake Fallujah, one of IS's most emblematic bastions, which lies only 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad.
Iraq's Fallujah 'Fully Cleared of IS' | Military.com
The militant group has controlled the city for the past 2 ½ years, as NPR's Alice Fordham tells our Newscast unit. Iraqi officials pronounced the fight over after pushing ISIS fighters out of Fallujah's Jolan district. The commander of the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdel Wahab al-Saadi, appeared on state television and "hailed what he called the victory of the security forces and their allies, although he said clearing operations were still ongoing," as Alice reports. Al-Saadi said at least 1,800 Islamic State militants were killed during the recent fighting and others fled the city, according to Reuters. This comes a week after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah, after the U.S.-backed forces took control of Fallujah's main government building.
Iraqi forces advance in Fallujah, Iraq
As The Associated Press reports, al-Abadi "pledged that remaining pockets of IS fighters would be cleared out within hours, but fierce clashes on the city's northern and western edges persisted for days." The strategic city is located about 35 miles from Baghdad, and as we reported, ISIS has used the city as a jumping off point for recent attacks in Iraq's capital. As of Tuesday, at least 85,000 people had fled Fallujah and the surrounding area during the weeks of fighting, the United Nations refugee agency said. It adds: "About 60,000 of these fled over a period of just three days last week, between 15 to 18 June." The flood of displaced persons has overwhelmed nearby camps, it says. "Two and sometimes three families are having to share tents in many cases while others sleep in the open, without hygiene facilities," UNCHR said. "Rising temperatures, the absence of shade and insufficient clean drinking water are compounding an already desperate situation."
Displaced Iraqis from the Fallujah area wait to fill jerrycans with water at a camp
Early this week, Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council told Morning Edition that conditions at these camps are "getting worse every day." Schembri describes what he has heard from those who fled: "Well, especially in the last year and in the few - last few months it has been, really, a nightmare to live in Fallujah. None of the basic supplies were actually making it through. People were living off - on animal feed, on expired dates and drinking the river water, which is undrinkable. I've met people who have lost their relatives drowning in the Euphrates River when they tried to escape from the sniper fire. They tried to flee from Fallujah. "The level of trauma that is coming from there is something we haven't even started talking about. Right now, we're just struggling to deal with the basic necessities - water, food, medicines, tents, mattresses. That's the kind of place we're in right now."
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Iraqi troops have entered the north-western al-Julan neighborhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under IS control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, said. Lt Gen al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated." The Iraqi army was backed by US-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias. "From the centre of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief... and declare that the Fallujah fight is over," he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag. He added that troops will start working on removing bombs from the city's streets and buildings.
Fallujah has been under the control of IS since January 2014
The announcement comes more than a week after Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah after Iraqi forces advanced into the city centre and took control of a government complex. While Mr al-Abadi pledged the remaining pockets of IS fighters would be cleared out within hours, fierce clashes on the city's northern and western edges persisted for days. The operation has fuelled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups. According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. Like other aid agencies, the UNHCR warned of the dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40C and shelter is limited, calling for more funds to meet the mounting needs of the displaced. Fallujah has been under the control of Islamic State militants since January 2014.
Fallujah, which is located in Anbar province about 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to IS in January 2014. During an insurgency waged by IS group's militant predecessor, al Qaida in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces. In 2004, more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles. IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country. In total, more than 3.3 million Iraqis have fled their homes since IS swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, according to UN figures. More than 40% of the displaced are from Anbar province.
Fallujah 'fully liberated' from IS, says Iraqi commander - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
