“This Iraqi flag is flying in Fallujah”, he said in an address carried by state television, donning a black military-style uniform and waving a large flag.
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Iraq’s army sought Monday to eliminate Daesh (ISIS) fighters holed up in farmland west of Fallujah to keep them from launching a counterattack on the city, a day after the government declared victory over the extremist militants there.
Iraqi government forces flash the “V” for victory sign in Fallujah, Iraq on June 26, 2016.
Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told reporters Monday that the coalition continues to provide support through strikes, intelligence, advice and assistance to Iraqi government fighters operating in Fallujah and will continue to do so as they began clearing operations.
An unexploded mortar shell is seen half buried in the ground in Fallujah.
People have continued to flee Fallujah since military operations to retake the city from Daesh forces began in May.
“It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan”.
The allegations of sectarian incidents in Fallujah are on a much smaller scale than those that unfolded in another Sunni-majority city, Tikrit, after government-sanctioned Shiite militias helped retake it from the IS group.
Special forces Cpl. Mohammad Hussein, stationed at a makeshift base in the city center, said his men arrested about six people who were caught looting. Officials have called for more funds to meet mounting needs.
“It is still too early to speak of (civilians returning to Fallujah)”, said Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council, an worldwide humanitarian organization that does extensive work in Anbar province.
Majid, the policeman who also fought in Ramadi, said Fallujah was left in better shape, but acknowledged that the damage was still significant. The time-consuming de-mining process there is still continuing. 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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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 United Nations figures.
