Teh One Who Knocks
05-23-2016, 12:08 PM
FOX News and The Associated Press
Iraqi government forces backed by U.S. airstrikes and advisers pushed Islamic State militants out of agricultural areas outside of Fallujah on Monday as they launched a military offensive to recapture the city from the extremists.
The U.S. is supporting an Iraqi military operation to retake Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State, with airstrikes and is advising the Iraqis at two operation centers in Baghdad and Taqaddum, an American military spokesman based in Baghdad told Fox News.
There are reports of Iranian-backed Shiite militias -- whose forces are located on the outskirts of town -- participating in the Fallujah operation, but Col. Steve Warren said the U.S. military will not support those forces.
"We are not going to drop bombs in support of the Shiite militias," he told Fox News by phone.
Warren estimated that there are between 500 and 1,000 ISIS fighters in Fallujah, along with 50,000 civilians.
The city, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, has been under the militants' control since January 2014.
The commander of the Fallujah operation, Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, could not say how long the offensive would take, citing terrain, the number of civilians in the city and bombs planted by the militants. Al-Saadi added that the first phase aims to surround and bomb ISIS positions.
Federal police battalion commander, 1st Lt. Ahmed Mahdi Salih, said ground fighting was taking place around the town of Garma, east of Fallujah, which is considered the main supply line for the militants. ISIS holds the center of Garma and some areas on its outskirts.
Col. Mahmoud al-Mardhi, who is in charge of paramilitary forces, said his troops recaptured at least three agricultural areas outside Garma. Al-Mardhi added that airstrikes and artillery shelling intensified against ISIS positions inside Fallujah.
In the early days of the Sunni-led insurgency that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Fallujah emerged as the main stronghold for different militant groups opposed to American forces. The main group was Al Qaeda in Iraq, which later spawned ISIS. Fallujah was the site of two bloody battles against U.S. forces in 2004.
Flanked by senior military commanders, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of military operations in a televised speech late Sunday night. He vowed to "tear up the black banners of strangers who usurped this city" and hoist the Iraqi flag.
Wearing the black uniform of Iraq's counter-terrorism forces, al-Abadi visited the Fallujah Operation Command and met with commander on Monday morning.
The offensive comes a week after Iraqi forces pushed ISIS out of the western town of Rutba, located 240 miles west of Baghdad, on the edge of Anbar province. Last month, Iraqi forces cleared territory along Anbar's Euphrates river valley after the provincial capital Ramadi was declared fully liberated earlier this year.
Iraqi government forces backed by U.S. airstrikes and advisers pushed Islamic State militants out of agricultural areas outside of Fallujah on Monday as they launched a military offensive to recapture the city from the extremists.
The U.S. is supporting an Iraqi military operation to retake Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State, with airstrikes and is advising the Iraqis at two operation centers in Baghdad and Taqaddum, an American military spokesman based in Baghdad told Fox News.
There are reports of Iranian-backed Shiite militias -- whose forces are located on the outskirts of town -- participating in the Fallujah operation, but Col. Steve Warren said the U.S. military will not support those forces.
"We are not going to drop bombs in support of the Shiite militias," he told Fox News by phone.
Warren estimated that there are between 500 and 1,000 ISIS fighters in Fallujah, along with 50,000 civilians.
The city, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, has been under the militants' control since January 2014.
The commander of the Fallujah operation, Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, could not say how long the offensive would take, citing terrain, the number of civilians in the city and bombs planted by the militants. Al-Saadi added that the first phase aims to surround and bomb ISIS positions.
Federal police battalion commander, 1st Lt. Ahmed Mahdi Salih, said ground fighting was taking place around the town of Garma, east of Fallujah, which is considered the main supply line for the militants. ISIS holds the center of Garma and some areas on its outskirts.
Col. Mahmoud al-Mardhi, who is in charge of paramilitary forces, said his troops recaptured at least three agricultural areas outside Garma. Al-Mardhi added that airstrikes and artillery shelling intensified against ISIS positions inside Fallujah.
In the early days of the Sunni-led insurgency that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Fallujah emerged as the main stronghold for different militant groups opposed to American forces. The main group was Al Qaeda in Iraq, which later spawned ISIS. Fallujah was the site of two bloody battles against U.S. forces in 2004.
Flanked by senior military commanders, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of military operations in a televised speech late Sunday night. He vowed to "tear up the black banners of strangers who usurped this city" and hoist the Iraqi flag.
Wearing the black uniform of Iraq's counter-terrorism forces, al-Abadi visited the Fallujah Operation Command and met with commander on Monday morning.
The offensive comes a week after Iraqi forces pushed ISIS out of the western town of Rutba, located 240 miles west of Baghdad, on the edge of Anbar province. Last month, Iraqi forces cleared territory along Anbar's Euphrates river valley after the provincial capital Ramadi was declared fully liberated earlier this year.