Iraq’s prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, who has hitched his own fortunes to being able to introduce widespread reforms, travelled to a command centre east of Falluja before the operation, which began with USA airstrikes before dawn.
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“We are here to announce that the Iraqi flag will soon be flying in the sky of Fallujah”, Abadi had said a day earlier.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said he does not believe the Iraqis have gotten into the city yet. The number of fighters in Fallujah also has been falling, he said, but he added that he did not have a firm number. Two offensives by us forces against al Qaeda insurgents in Falluja in 2004 each lasted about a month and wrecked significant portions of the city. Davis said many ISIS fighters had already left Anbar and particularly Fallujah which he described as “a distant outpost for them” that has been “hard to sustain over time”.
Known as the “City of Minarets and Mother of Mosques”, Falluja is a focus for Sunni Muslim faith and identity in Iraq.
In the early days of the Sunni-led insurgency following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Fallujah emerged as the main stronghold for different militant groups opposed to American forces.
Once home to more than 250,000 people, only about 60,000 to 100,000 civilians remain in Fallujah, according to the coalition and the United Nations. Many Iraqis are suspicious of the civilians who have not fled, assuming many are IS sympathizers. The government warned residents on Sunday before the offensive began to hang white flags on their buildings. “Now we are looking at another 3 million being displaced”, she said, referring to operations against IS. “It’s important that they have some safe corridors”. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there is “a great risk” to about 50,000 civilians estimated by the U.N.to still be in Fallujah. U.N.
Still, people trapped in the city told USA TODAY that the Islamic State has imposed a curfew and moved many residents to the city center to use as a human shield.
Fallujah will be the most hard fight yet for the Iraqi military, which is still struggling to regroup after a near-total collapse in the face of the IS assault on Mosul almost two years ago.
Fallujah is not new to tragedy, as it famously saw the worst of the fighting in Iraq during the American occupation years of the last decade.
The U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition said it has carried out 21 air and drone strikes on ISIS targets in Falluja since Tuesday.
Some of the first direct engagement occurred in al-Hayakil area on the city’s southern outskirts, a resident said.
The push to take Fallujah is expected to be a challenge for Iraq’s struggling security forces due to defenses put up by the militants and the thousands of civilians who remain there.
Federal police officer Raed Jawdat said in a statement issued mid-Monday that joint forces – including army troops, counter-terrorism units, pro-government militiamen and tribal fighters – had managed to capture Fallujah’s Subaihat, Al-Shihabi, Al-Lifiyya, Al-Karma, Al-Boaudh, Jamilah, Al-Bouhadid, Al-Nasser and Al-Sajr districts, among others.
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Col. Mahmoud al-Mardhi, who is in charge of paramilitary forces, said his troops recaptured at least three agricultural areas outside Garma. The United States has been anxious about the involvement of Shiite paramilitaries in offensives in Sunni areas because those forces are largely supported by Iran. In the past, local Sunnis and rights groups accused the mobilization units of abusing Sunnis in areas such as Tikrit and Diyala.
