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Iraqi Forces Inch into IS-Held Fallujah
 [An Nahar] Iraqi forces made progress Friday in their assault on Fallujah,... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperityor a really nice place to raise your kids... moving into a southern neighborhood of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group's bastion, commanders said. An AFP photographer embedded with interior ministry SWAT teams said Iraqi forces had managed to enter the Shuhada neighborhood, on the southern edge of the city center. "The security forces have advanced from Naimiya neighborhood to Shuhada," Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the operation's overall commander, told AFP. "The festivities between the security forces and ISIS members were fierce," said another officer, using an Arab acronym for IS. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of an operation to retake Fallujah on May 23. After an initial phase of shaping operations aimed at cutting off the jihadists' last supply lines, elite forces on May 30 attempted to enter Fallujah from three directions. They have not pushed deep into the IS bastion however, slowed in their advance by tough resistance and widespread concern over the fate of 50,000 civilians believed to be trapped inside the city. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs camps for displaced people south of the city, said Friday that an estimated 12,000 residents of the area have fled their homes since May 21. None of them however were from the city center, where trapped civilians have little to eat, no safe water to drink and are at risk from intense shelling and bombardment. Posted by: Fred 2016-06-04 |
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