Iraq battles IS in Fallujah days after declaring victory

“The simultaneous attacks are continuing from four directions to tighten the noose around Daesh … entrenched in houses among civilians and prevent them from catching their breath”, said Colonel Ahmed al-Saidi from the Iraqi federal police. “They have nothing and they need everything”.

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”. That evening Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obedi, with Iraq’s special forces, told The Associated Press his troops controlled 80 percent of the city.

The Norwegian Refugee Council is still able to provide just up to three litres of drinking water per person per day in Amariyat Al Fallujah camps, which is way below the emergency standard of 10 litres per person per day. “We are exhausting available resources in Iraq to deal with the rapid developments” in Fallujah.

The statement said that “victory” in liberating Fallujah opens new prospect for defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in other Iraqi cities such as Mosul, Al-Raqqah and Aleppo.

More than 82,000 civilians have evacuated Falluja, an hour’s drive west of Baghdad, since the campaign began and up to 25,000 more are likely on the move, the United Nations said.

The conflict in Iraq has forced more than 3.3 million people to flee their homes. The government made appeals for funding from worldwide organisations and relies heavily on local religious networks.

A bastion of insurgency against USA forces following the 2003 invasion, Fallujah was seen as a launchpad for bombings in Baghdad.

Teaming up with paramilitary troops and backed by the US-led coalition, Iraqi government forces launched the large-scale Fallujah operation in late May.

The authorities have already made arrests related to allegations that Shi’ite militiamen executed dozens of fleeing Sunnis.

In August 2014, Daesh fighters overran the Iraqi town of Sinjar and systematically massacred, captured and enslaved thousands of Yazidis.

But there have been persistent clashes between Iraqi forces and IS fighters holed up in neighborhoods along the city’s northern edge.

“We secured tents for some of them but the rest, including women and children, are sleeping on the ground under the sun”, he said.