Arshad al-Salihi, the head of the Iraqi parliament’s human rights committee, said that many civilians have been killed in the ongoing Fallujah operation as a result of Iraqi army airstrikes.
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In recent days, a combined force of Iraqi army troops, police, Shiite militiamen and Sunni tribal fighters has made progress in clearing militants from areas around Fallujah, in preparation for a push into the city in western Anbar province.
Located 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, the city has a history of anti-government sentiment in post 2003 Iraq.
The move was reportedly a coalition attack, which is an operation led by the U.S. and co-organised by governments in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Jordan, Morocco and the UK.
One of the lucky civilians who managed to flee the city with more than ten of her family, Umm Omar said: ‘ISIS gave us food that only animals would eat’.
Jumaili said the historic al-Karmah and Ibrahim Ali Hassoun Mosques had been demolished with explosives, sectarian slogans had been scrawled on a number of homes and buildings, and that furniture as well as electrical appliances had been stolen by militias.
After initial shelling on Fallujah and IS positions in other areas in the early morning hours of Monday, the troops covered by U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircrafts advanced toward the edges of Fallujah as well as the nearby small towns of Garma and Saqlawiyah.
More than 50,000 people remain in the center of the Sunni majority city, which has been under control of the extremist group for more than two years. Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director in Iraq, spoke to Susy Hodges about the “dire” situation facing Fallujah’s trapped civilians.
On Thursday, the Iraqi Army supported by Iranian-backed militias captured the strategic town of Karma just outside Fallujah.
An Islamic State statement reported by the Amaq news agency said Iraqi forces had been unable to advance on the southern front, near Amiriyat Falluja.
The strikes are part of a twin assault on Raqqa in Syria and Fallujah in Iraq, as ground forces prepare for the most significant assaults against IS since it declared a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria in 2014.
“Hunger was our main motive to flee, as well as the constant fear of Isis (Islamic State)”.
The UN said that only 800 people had been able to flee Fallujah since May 22, “mostly from outlying areas”.
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The city has been surrounded by pro-government forces for months and concern has been mounting among humanitarian groups that the population was being deliberately starved.
