ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s defense ministry ordered the residents of Fallujah on Sunday to stay away from Islamic State (ISIS) positions, as Iraqi forces were expected to begin an offensive against the key city.
The ministry statement advised Fallujah’s residents to either leave their homes or, if they were unable to do so, fly white flags to indicate they pose no threat to the city’s liberators.
The ministry statement advised Fallujah’s residents to either leave their homes or, if they were unable to do so, fly white flags to indicate they pose no threat to the city’s liberators.
Military and militia commanders have said they plan to launch an offensive to force ISIS from Fallujah in as little as two weeks’ time.
“Fallujah will be before Mosul,” said Col. Firas Hussein Abed, an Iraqi commander in the army’s 6th Division, referring to the ISIS stronghold in Iraq, against which an offensive has been anticipated for months.
According to the New York Times, he added that “the plans are in place” for the operation.
The leader of the powerful Badr Shiite militia, Hadi al-Amiri, made a speech on Wednesday announcing that, “Our next operation will be in Fallujah.”
The presence of Shiite militias such as the Badr Organization – which is fighting under the banner of the Hashd al-Shaabi – in the Sunni-majority Anbar province is a contentious issue, since it risks further inflaming sectarian tensions.
Iraqi forces fighting alongside Sunni tribal forces, and backed by US coalition air support, managed to retake the strategically important Anbar province town of Rutbah on Friday.
The rapid fall of the town has led to some speculation that ISIS did not put up much of a fight and that it may be saving its manpower to fight in defense of Fallujah and Mosul at a later date.
ISIS has occupied Fallujah since January 2014, the same month it took over its key Syrian stronghold, the city of Raqqa.
Fallujah’s close proximity to Baghdad is likely the reason the central government there wants to liberate it before Mosul, especially in light of ISIS bombings in Baghdad which have killed over 200 people this month alone.
Iraqi Special Forces, with close coalition air support, managed to recapture Anbar’s provincial capital Ramadi from ISIS back in December. Since then, as part of Operation Desert Lynx, Iraqi military forces have been liberating Anbar’s towns and villages from ISIS control.
Fallujah has been under siege for months now and there have been reports that its population is starving. Human Rights Watch called on the Iraqi government in early April to allow in humanitarian aid into the city and on ISIS to allow civilians to leave.
Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to remain trapped in the city.
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