Government troops and allied militias have now been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar from IS militants, who attempted to advance towards Baghdad after seizing most of Anbar province.
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“We hope that they would be able to reach these corridors, but if they could not they can stay in their houses and stick to their houses”, Abadi said, saying his government delayed the start of operation several times to ensure the security of citizens.
(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed). A soldier prepares a heavy weapon at the operations center outside Fallujah, Iraq, on Friday, May 27, 2016, as military forces surround the city.
The group pointed out, however, that there were no safe areas or access routes for such an exodus, adding via Twitter that the U.S. reliance on the Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces to wage the offensive had pushed “a lot of people to join ISIS to defense of their city”.
“Rightly or wrongly people in Baghdad believe these bombs are coming out of Fallujah and they want the city taken”, says a retired senior Iraqi official.
US-led coalition air and artillery strikes have killed 70 Daesh fighters in Fallujah, including the jihadists’ leader in the Iraqi city, a military spokesman said today.
Meanwhile there are dire warnings about conditions in the city.
Popular Mobilization would only go in the city if the army’s attack fails, he said.
After the US -led invasion in 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein, the city’s 250,000 residents initially supported a Sunni insurgency that rose up against USA forces and the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.
During the eight-year rule of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was forced out in 2014, Sunnis were marginalised and persecuted. Mr Abadi claims that the counter-offensive against Fallujah has been delayed by political divisions in Baghdad. IS later captured the second-largest city of Mosul and then swept toward Baghdad in a blitz that seized almost a third of Iraq territory.
“There is no information for civilians about safe exits”, said Becky Bakr Abdullah, an NRC spokeswoman.
“Fierce fighting is now raging around the city”, Save the Children’s statement said, reporting that only 700 people including 400 children had managed to escape as of Tuesday.
While staying in Fallujah may entail starving to death, those who flee risk being killed by either ISIS or Iraqi government forces.
“Innocents can not be punished for the crimes of ISIL”, the Baghdad-based academy said in a statement, calling on the Iraqi government to provide civilian residents of Fallujah with safe passage out of the city. “Don’t be treacherous. Don’t kill an old man, nor a boy, nor a woman”.
The offensive on Fallujah includes personnel from the Iraqi Army, police, the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), and Sunni militia fighters.
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“We are facing very severe resistance, many booby traps and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that we need to deal with before we move forward”, the statement said.
