The battle began on Monday to retake the city, the first in Iraq to be seized by the extremists in January 2014. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 10,000 to 15,000 SDF fighters were estimated to be taking part in the offensive.
Advertisement
The Fallujah mission has not entirely steered the USA -led coalition from Mosul, where officials for months urged the the Iraqis to prioritize retaking the northern Iraqi city. Since Abadi’s announcement of the Falluja offensive, U.S. warplanes have hit Mosul positions 12 times, about the same amount as in Falluja and at a pace in keeping with the three days’ worth of strikes there before the announcement.
If Raqa falls, “it’s the beginning of the end of their caliphate”, Warren said.
Some analysts and Iraqi officials have said that the country’s ground forces are not able to conduct two operations at once, because of logistical shortcomings and the small number of experienced, well-trained troops. Kurdish officials said the offensive in Raqa province would be a three-pronged assault, including from Ain Issa. “We are obviously supportive of this operation”.
“It’s clear that if the U.S. wants to eliminate IS, it has to attack it on multiple fronts at the same time”, said Washington-based Syria analyst Fabrice Balanche.
“Cutting the route between Raqa and Mosul isn’t hard today”.
Fierce fighting has been raging around Falluja since Iraq’s military launched an offensive Monday to reclaim the traditionally Sunni-dominated city, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, from the terror group.
Iraqi forces cleared areas around Fallujah yesterday after launching an assault to retake the city, tightening their siege on Islamic State group fighters but also raising fears for civilians trapped inside.
Also in the day, the troops recaptured the areas of Albu Eifan, Albu Hawa and al-Hesi in south of Fallujah on the western bank of Euphrates River after heavy clashes with the IS militants, the source said, adding that the commander of Sunni paramilitary unit from volunteers was killed in the battle.
The Islamic State had prevented civilians from leaving the city of Fallujah as the Iraqi army prepares to invade, but is now allowing some of them to leave, so long as they pay a ,500 exit fee. Over 80 families had managed to escape since May 20, UNHCR said. We entered Al-Dhuluiya when the people of Al-Dhuluiya people said that they could not do it without us and this was the case in Tikrit and Baiji.
Kurshish news agency Rudaw is reporting that at least 82 civilians casualties have either been killed or wounded by the city’s “random” shelling by pro-government forces. Baghdad’s forces retook Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital near Fallujah, in December but have not yet tackled a bigger challenge – IS-held Mosul, Iraq’s largest northern city.
After initial shelling on Fallujah and IS positions in other areas in the early morning hours of Monday, the troops covered by USA -led coalition and Iraqi aircrafts advanced toward the edges of Fallujah as well as the nearby small towns of Garma and Saqlawiyah.
The offensives came as Washington and Moscow scrambled to salvage a shaky ceasefire between the regime and non-jihadist rebels meant to pave the way for peace talks to end Syria’s five-year conflict.
“As they start moving in, we’re doing some more dynamic strikes” in Falluja, Lt Gen Charles Q Brown Jr told reporters on Thursday, indicating that the war above Falluja had progressed beyond attacks aimed at facilitating Iraqi ground entry to the city.
Advertisement
“We recognise that the CoH (Cessation of Hostilities) is under severe stress, but believe that to abandon it now would be strategic error”, Michael Ratney tweeted.
