Iraqi Troops Launch Operation Against Daesh In Fallujah
Iraqi troops entered Fallujah city to combat Daesh
MEP: The Iraqi special forces has launched an operation against Daesh or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group’s most emblematic bastions, Fallujah.
One commander, quoted by AFP, said troops entered the city from three directions on Monday in a new phase of the operation to recapture it.
“We started early this morning our operations to break into Fallujah,” Sabah al-Norman, a spokesman for Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service, said.
According to Reuters, explosions and gunfire could be heard in Fallujah’s southern Naimiya district.
The Iraqi operations came a week after the government launched a concerted effort to retake the city, which has been held by the jihadists since 2014.
In a televised speech to parliament on Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on residents of Fallujah to either leave the city or stay indoors.
Only a few hundred families managed to slip out of the Fallujah area, with an estimated 50,000 people still trapped inside the city proper.
