Backed by aerial support from the USA -led coalition and paramilitary forces mainly made up of Shiite militias, Iraqi government troops more than a week ago launched a military operation to recapture Fallujah which has been under control of the extremist group for more than two years.
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“Thank God, our units are at the outskirts of Fallujah and victory is within reach”. Government forces have imposed a tight blockade on the city and IS militants are reportedly preventing residents from leaving.UNICEF has also stated basic survival means – food, medicine and clean water – are quickly running out. “Children who are recruited see their lives and futures jeopardized as they are forced to carry and use arms, fighting in an adult war”, he added.
“You do not need Fallujah in order to get Mosul”, a spokesman for a US-led anti-IS coalition, US Army Colonel Steve Warren, said in a phone interview 10 days ago when the Government first announced its plans to recapture Fallujah.
“Since the start of the operation, we have received about 70 martyrs, probably a bit more”, said a member of the security forces posted outside Najaf’s Valley of Peace, the world’s largest cemetery, where many from Iraq’s Shi’ite majority bury their dead.
Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani al-Asadi said he expects to find more sympathy among Fallujah’s population for the Sunni-led militants of IS, which some estimates have put at 500-700 fighters.
Iraqi commanders have claimed to have killed dozens of ISIL fighters since the start of the operation.
Amiri was speaking to reporters while touring one of the frontlines near Falluja.
Driving ISIS out of Fallujah, where USA forces waged a fierce battle in 2004 against al-Qaida, would represent a huge victory for the Iraqi government because the city was one of the first major urban areas in Iraq to fall to the extremists in 2014.
‘In Fallujah, Daesh has die-hard fighters defending a city they consider as a symbol for Jihad, ‘ said analyst and former army general Jasim al-Bahadili.
Islamic State fighters raised their flag there in January 2014 before sweeping through much of Iraq’s north and west, declaring a caliphate several months later, from Mosul.
The Pentagon has deployed more than 200 special forces alongside the SDF, a Kurdish-led alliance in which it has been trying to boost the Arab element.
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Iraqi forces backed by USA -led airstrikes and mainly Shiite militias launched an operation more than a week ago to recapture Fallujah, which has been held by IS for more than two years.
