Iraq army, volunteers start Fallujah operation

The Iraqi army and volunteer forces have started a major military operation against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in the militant-besieged city of Fallujah in central Iraq, Press TV reports.

The operation began on Wednesday targeting the terrorist group, which wrested control of the city in June. Fallujah is considered to be one of the group’s strongholds in Anbar Province, which sprawls over much of Iraq’s western and central territory.

Volunteer forces have announced the killing of 30 ISIL terrorists in the operation, most of whom foreigners, after firing rockets and missiles towards their hideouts in a neighborhood southeast of Fallujah.

Officials have said the ISIL militants threw the bodies of the dead terrorists into the river in order to hide their identities.

“In the Anbar operations, the army is trying to move carefully and slowly for the geographic nature of the province is different from other areas in Iraq,” said political analyst Ahmad al-Sahrifi.

“It is not an easy battle, but the cooperation among Iraqi forces, volunteers, and tribes as well as the political support for the military operations are going to achieve victory on the ground,” al-Sahrifi added.

Volunteer forces and tribesmen, backed by the Air Force, have also managed to kill 39 terrorists, including five snipers, east of Fallujah after receiving intelligence about their hideouts.

“The siege in Fallujah and the operations to liberate and cleanse Fallujah from ISIL is very important for it means getting rid of ISIL in Anbar and al-Jazira area (Upper Mesopotamia). The Iraqi forces are now trying to contain ISIL so that it does not spill over into other provinces,” said Wahhab al-Taii, another political analyst.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been in chaos since ISIL started its campaign of terror in early June 2014. The terrorists are in control of the major city of Mosul and have swept through parts of the country.

Since the onset of ISIL’s terror campaign, Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, and Shia and Sunni volunteers in operations to drive the terrorists out of the areas they have seized, with the recapture of the northern city of Tikrit being their most significant recent achievement.