Iraqi forces battle ISIS on southern edge of Fallujah | Read More

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BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi forces pushed into the southern edge of Fallujah on Monday, enduring car bombs and sniper fire from Islamic State fighters determined to hold onto the strategic western city.

Lt. Gen. Abdulwahab al-Saedi, commander of the government’s offensive, said that forces from Iraq’s army, police and elite Counterterrorism Service launched the assault on southern Fallujah early Monday.

Since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the operation just over a week ago, government forces, together with Shiite militia troops and tribal fighters, mostly from Sunni Anbar province, have taken territory around Fallujah in preparation for an assault on its urban area.

“Forces are still advancing, and clashes are ongoing,” Saedi told state television.

Capturing Fallujah, the first Iraqi city to fall to the Islamic State in 2014, is expected to be both an important battle and a difficult one. The city, about 45 miles west of Baghdad, is known for its history of nurturing armed Islamist groups. In 2004, U.S. Marines fought two fierce battles to take control of Fallujah, but insurgents returned each time.

Saedi said the government forces were approaching the Shuhadaa neighborhood in southern Fallujah on Monday afternoon. Speaking later to The Washington Post, he said militants detonated at least two car bombs and were using snipers and rockets to try to fend off the advancing troops.

“The Counterterrorism Service forces have the experience to fight them, just like they did in Ramadi, Hit and Rutba,” Saedi said, referring to other recent battles.

Military officials said the forces had not yet entered the city proper. North of Fallujah, federal police, soldiers and militiamen pressed into the town of Saqlawiya, while police SWAT forces raised the Iraqi flag over the police station in Na’imiyah south of the city.

The Iraqi military also said its warplanes had launched attacks on Islamic State positions around Fallujah on Monday. Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. military spokesman, said that American aircraft were also conducting strikes.

Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, commander of the Counterterrorism Service, said Fallujah was an especially complicated operation, because of its history of supporting insurgents and because the battle would unfold in an urban area with a significant civilian population.

Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the U.S. commander in Iraq, warned last week that government forces may have to contend with Islamic State sympathizers among the local population.

Reasserting government control of Fallujah would deal a major blow to the group in western Iraq, where it has been able to draw strength from fellow militants in neighboring Syria. A government victory also would help build momentum ahead of a highly anticipated operation to recapture the major city of Mosul to the north.

The Counterterrorism Service troops are expected to play a key role in leading the charge into the heart of Fallujah, as they have in other battles. Assadi, speaking in an interview on Sunday, said those elite forces had gradually figured out the Islamic State’s way of waging war, a combination of conventional military tactics and insurgent attacks.

Saedi said security forces had chosen to attack from southern Fallujah because that area was largely empty of civilians. About 50,000 civilians are believed to remain in besieged Fallujah, where conditions have worsened as food and other basic supplies grow scarce.

Mayor Issa al-Issawi, speaking from outside the city, said that civilians had begun to move from southern areas of Fallujah toward the north, and may be used by militants as human shields.

He said there had been reports of civilian casualties from recent shelling and air operations by government-aligned forces. Some residents have been killed by militants, meanwhile, while trying to flee, officials from the city have said. The Post could not independently confirm those reports.

The fighting in southern Fallujah came as the Islamic State claimed responsibility for several explosions in the Iraqi capital. On Monday morning, a car bomb exploded in Shaab, a Shiite area of northeast Baghdad, according to the Interior Ministry. Hospital officials said at least 22 people were killed. Another bomb went off in Sadr City but no one was killed, the ministry said.

Officials believe a recent surge in terrorist bombings in the Iraqi capital reflects an effort by the Islamic State to divert government attention from the battlefield. Authorities are hoping that recapturing Fallujah would reduce that threat.

The Iraqi military, in a statement Monday, said that counterterrorism troops in the Fallujah area had killed an Islamic State fighter named Abu al-Harith, suspected of manufacturing car bombs there.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Mustafa Salim, MIssy Ryan

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