The military’s swift advance surprised many who anticipated a protracted battle for Fallujah, a bastion of Sunni Muslim insurgency where some of the fiercest fighting of the US occupation of Iraq took place in 2004 against Islamic State’s forerunner, al Qaeda. Concern has been raised by the Sunni community in Iraq that many young men joined IS by coercion, and are now vulnerable to prosecution under the country’s strict anti-terror law.
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At least 1,800 militants were killed in the operation to retake Falluja, he said. Al Hayat stated that many of them provided valuable intelligence about IS troops, while simultaneously seeking a pardon.
“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. The operation, backed by airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition, began May 22 and involved several different Iraqi security forces: elite special operations troops, federal police, Anbar provincial police, and an umbrella group of government-approved, mostly Shiite militias.
“This is joy for all Iraqis and it’s the right of all Iraqi people to celebrate the retaking of Falluja”, Abadi said, speaking to Iraqiya state television outside Falluja hospital.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began.
“The operation in Fallujah has been a significant challenge for the ISF and for the coalition”, he said.
Majid, who also fought in Ramadi, said Fallujah was left in better shape, but acknowledged that the damage was still significant. The UNHCR and others have warned of dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and shelter is limited. “But the large number of displaced people and the quick movement has made it very hard to meet their needs”. 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 almost a third of each country.
The campaign for Mosul, which lies some 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, has been bogged down by logistics problems as Iraq’s political leadership jockeys over the planning of the operation.
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Those divisions in the military at times stalled the Fallujah offensive.
