Iraqi troops begin operation to seize back Islamic State-held Fallujah
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-fallujah-offensive-20160530-snap-story.htmlIraqi military forces prepare for an offensive into Fallujah to retake the city from Islamic State militants in Iraq. (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press)
Nabih Bulos
Iraqi government troops began storming the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah on Monday, army officials said, even as the group’s jihadists waged suicide attacks in the nearby Iraqi capital Baghdad.
“Security forces from the counter-terrorism and army and… Anbar police units began at dawn this morning a wide-scale military operation to breach the center of Fallujah city,” said Lieutenant-General Abdul Wahab al-Saaidi to local media outlet Sumariyah News on Monday.
He added that government troops had already commenced their attack from the south of the city and had already achieved “notable progress.”
Media pages associated with the Iraqi Special Forces posted images depicting dozens of black-clad troops wearing full combat gear preparing for the offensive, while video uploaded on YouTube showed army soldiers running in disparate groups towards the frontline as sounds of gunfire could be heard.
Activists with relatives inside the city said the attacking forces had entered through the al-Nuamiyah neighborhood, south of the city and home to a small army barracks, and were progressing through the adjacent al-Shuhadaa neighborhood.
“Al-Shuhadaa neighborhood is one of the important Daesh centers in the city,” said Ali al-Jumaili, a member of the “We are all Fallujah” Facebook community page, in an interview on social media from Baghdad. He referred to the Islamic State by its Arabic acronym. The group is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Fighters with Shiite factions, known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces, were given an artillery support role on the outskirts of the city in what was seen as a nod to sectarian sensitivities in Fallujah.
The assault comes as the culmination of a week-long offensive that saw a combined force of government troops and paramilitary factions work with warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition to wrest control of the city from the jihadists.
Fallujah, a long-time focal point of Sunni resistance in the days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, fell into Islamic State hands in January 2014.
Even though the Islamic State still holds Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the crown jewel of cities under its control, Fallujah’s loss would nevertheless be a significant blow to the extremist group.
Its proximity to Baghdad, 40 miles to the east, has made it an ideal staging area from which the jihadists could prepare and mobilize suicide attacks on targets inside the capital -- a fact highlighted once again on Monday morning by two suicide bombings in the northern Baghdad neighborhoods of Shaab and Tarmiyah neighborhoods.
Islamic State media claimed responsibility for the attacks, which it said killed more than twenty “apostates from the Shiite security services.”
The group, which adheres to a harsh interpretation of Sunni Islamic law, brands Shiites as well as other religious groups as apostates or infidels that must be killed.
But the Fallujah campaign is also seen as a test for Iraq’s often-maligned army: In June 2014, it suffered a blow at the hands of Islamic State militants, who advanced virtually unopposed to take large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria even as army troops threw down their arms and ran away.
Since then, the U.S.-led coalition has increased training and support for Iraqi troops, even while insisting that the Popular Mobilization Forces take a secondary role in the campaign to roll back Islamic State gains.
