The U.S. -led coalition says Fallujah is approximately one-third “cleared” of the Islamic State group, days after the Iraqi government declared victory in the city west of Baghdad.
Advertisement
“We implore the Iraqi government to take charge of this humanitarian disaster unfolding on our watch”, NRC’s Iraq director Nasr Muflahi said.
“These come out of months of besiegement whereby no essential, no basic, supplies have been coming through to the city centre of Fallujah, or the outskirts even. Food, medicines, water – drinking water”.
Many Iraqis consider Fallujah an irredeemable bulwark of Sunni Muslim militancy and regard anyone still there when the assault began as an Islamic State supporter.
Live footage broadcast on state television from outside the hospital showed smoke rising from the hospital and elite commandos celebrating with an Iraqi flag.
Teaming up with paramilitary troops and backed by the US -led coalition, Iraqi government forces launched the large-scale Fallujah operation in late May.
Schembri said the humanitarian situation in Anbar Province is potentially “catastrophic”.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in May that the army would prioritise Fallujah, the first Iraqi city seized by the militants in early 2014.
Iraqi forces, backed by allied fighters and United States war planes, are continuing the push to secure full control of Fallujah. Iraqi forces had taken back most of the city on Friday, reports Fox News. This leaves Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, as the only remaining urban stronghold for IS militants in the country.
Throughout the battle for Fallujah, very few ISIS fighters have actually been killed, and numerous estimated 2,000 fighters are still unaccounted for.
The operation has fueled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups. “They continue liberating the rest city’s districts from IS militants”, Abdul Amir Shammari, the commander of Baghdad Operations Command, told the Al Sumaria television broadcaster.
Advertisement
The conflict with IS, which also controls large parts of neighboring Syria, has forced more than 3.4 million Iraqis to flee their homes.
