Iraqi security forces on Wednesday pushed farther into the besieged city of Fallujah and seized part of a district in the city after fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants, a military statement and a security source said.
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In a telephone interview with Reuters in Baghdad, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande warned that the civilians could face a “harrowing” situation in the besieged city 50 kilometres west of Baghdad.
Falluja, just an hour’s drive from the capital, is in territory where Sunni Muslim tribes have long resisted the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad and where USA forces faced the biggest battles of their own 2003-2011 occupation.
The Iraqi advance on the city comes as IS is also under pressure in Syria from twin offensives by US-backed Arab and Kurdish fighters and regime troops supported by Russian Federation.
A source at the city’s main hospital, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said civilians were living in fear – both of being murdered by the extremists and because of bombing by the US -led coalition.
The accounts – which could not be independently verified – highlight the apparent desperation of the militants to hang onto the city, their closest main foothold to Baghdad.
Falluja would be the third major city in Iraq recaptured by the government after former leader Saddam Hussein’s hometown Tikrit and Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s western Anbar province.
The United Nations didn’t name any specific groups, but Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units have been supporting the Iraqi army and security forces in the ongoing battle to retake Falluja.
In March, government forces evicted the Islamic State from Palmyra, a desert town in central Syria famous for its Roman-era ruins.
Civilians trapped in the city of Fallujah are living in fear of being killed by militants and bombing by the US -led coalition, NBC News reported.
Its high value is one of the reasons IS has deployed well-trained snipers and built extensive networks of tunnels to defend it.
Just before the push, Lt. Gen. Abdel Wahab al-Saadi drove to the edge of the territory that Iraqi forces control.
“The Iraqi security forces have not stalled”, Volesky said.
After a blitz across the country in the summer of 2014, territory has slowly been clawed back from IS militants.
According to the spokesman, the city of Fallujah is fully surrounded by the Iraqi forces, and the army troops and the Federal Police forces are advancing toward city center from two directions in the southern areas.
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