ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Provincial authorities in Anbar called on the Iraqi government and the international community to airdrop humanitarian aid to civilians trapped in Islamic State (ISIS)-occupied Fallujah. "Humanitarian aid has to be airdropped to the stranded people inside Fallujah until the city is liberated from ISIS," said Suhaib al-Rawi, the Governor of Anbar province. "Since the beginning of this year, Anbar authorities in coordination with the [Iraqi] security forces have opened safe corridors to the people of Fallujah fleeing from ISIS," Rawi explained. "But they [ISIS] have planted bombs on the corridor," Rawi added. He warned that ISIS has been committing mass killings against the people of Fallujah. "We are urging Baghdad, the international community and the UN to ramp up their efforts and end the massacre ISIS is committing against the city's residents," he said. Rawi suggested that the only way to rescue the people of Fallujah form the clutches of ISIS is an immediate liberation of the city by Baghdad. There are plans to launch a decisive offensive on Fallujah by the Iraqi army to liberate the people detained by ISIS. There are an estimated 300 to 400 ISIS members still in Fallujah.A major Iraqi offensive backed by American-led coalition air-power recently descended on Ramadi last December and retook that provincial capital. Fallujah fell to ISIS in January 2014, the first Iraqi city to fall to the group. Its population has been distrustful of Baghdad for quite some time now and the Iraqi government also has reservations about where their loyalty lays.
