The Iraqi air force and US -led coalition warplanes killed as many as 250 Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) jihadists in airstrikes on a pair of convoys fleeing Fallujah.
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The militants in the convoy had fled their stronghold in Fallujah earlier and were heading toward the desert near Tharthar Lake, north of Ramadi, before being hit, the source added.
“Our heroes in the military aviation destroyed more than 200 vehicles”, Yahya Rasool, the spokesman of the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS, said.
Earlier Wednesday in a briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Army Col. Chris Garver said that the New Syrian Army had been steadily advancing on al-Boukamal with the backing of US airstrikes.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense posted footage online Wednesday showing what appears to be at least one Mi-28 Havoc gunship firing unguided rockets and its cannon into a mass of vehicles south of Fallujah.
“Over the last two days, the Iraqi security forces and the coalition conducted strikes against two large concentrations of (IS) vehicles and fighters”, Pentagon spokesman Matthew Allen said.
After tough battles to breach IS defenses in south Fallujah, elite Iraqi forces conquered the rest of the city with relative ease. “Again, we know the Iraqi security forces destroyed more”, Garver confirmed, noting that some militants fled the vehicles on foot.
Government troops and allied militias have been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns from IS militants in the province of Anbar, as militants attempted to approach Baghdad after seizing most of the province. Both Iraqi officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss operational details.
Sources within the New Syria Army said the operation had not been meant to win control of the heavily fortified militant stronghold where over 50,000 civilians live, but rather deal a psychological blow and test the group’s own capabilities. The assault is part of a wider offensive by Iraqi forces against ISIL, which is now being driven back with the help of air support from a US -led coalition.
UNICEF described Iraq as “one of the most risky places in the world for children”.
On Thursday the United Nations children’s fund warned that IS’s invasion and the military operation to unseat them have had a “catastrophic impact”, with some 4.7 million Iraqi children in need of humanitarian assistance. “We appeal to all parties for restraint and to respect and protect children”.
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