Thousands flee Iraq’s Fallujah as fighting rages on

Iraq’s armed forces pressed on with their offensive to retake the city of Fallujah from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Tuesday, dislodging the militants from two eastern districts and pushing them back into a handful of northern and western neighbourhoods.

More than 14,000 families have fled Fallujah and surrounding areas since the operation to retake the city began in late May, including almost 10,000 families in just the last four days, according to the United Nations.

Yet unlike other battles, where many civilians sought refuge in nearby cities or the capital, people fleeing Falluja have been barred from entering Baghdad, just 60 km (40 miles) away, and aid officials note a lack of community mobilization.

Information for this article was contributed by Ahmed Sami of The Associated Press.

He said Iraqi authorities had so far detained 13,000 men of military age to determine any affiliation to Isil.

The operation inside the city of Fallujah was being conducted by the Iraqi army, regional and federal police forces as well as special anti-terrorism units.

Iraqi troops have not disclosed their losses in Fallujah though ISIS claims to have killed dozens.

On June 17, the Iraqi troops raised the national flag on the main government complex in Fallujah, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulating the nation on the liberation of the city. Iraqi commanders said 80 percent of the city was under their control, though clashes were still underway.

Throughout the battle for Fallujah, very few ISIS fighters have actually been killed, and numerous estimated 2,000 fighters are still unaccounted for.

“Four hundred families have reached my camp in the last four days, they don’t have anything”, said the camp manager, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which is providing emergency food rations and bottled water to thousands of people, said the sheer numbers and a lack of camp coordination has made it hard to reach all the newly arrived families.

“These escalating needs have pushed UNHCR funding into crisis levels”, Rummery said. “We are exhausting available resources in Iraq to deal with the rapid developments” in Fallujah.

Abadi vowed on Friday that Mosul, the country’s second city and IS’s last remaining major urban hub in Iraq, would be liberated “very soon”.

Since IS militants seized large swaths of territory in northern and western Iraq during the summer of 2014, more than 3.4 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes.