Iraqi forces took the Islamic State (IS) group’s last positions in the city of Fallujah, Iraq, on Sunday, establishing full control over one of the militants most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had already declared victory on June 17 after IS defenses collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.
The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the country’s last remaining major IS stronghold of Mosul, Iraq.
Photo: AFP
“This is joy for all Iraqis and it’s the right of all Iraqi people to celebrate the retaking of Fallujah,” Abadi said, speaking to al-Iraqiya state television outside a Fallujah hospital.
Victory came when elite forces retook Jolan, a northwestern neighborhood of Fallujah where the last holdout militants were holed up.
“It did not take more than two hours for CTS [counter-terrorism service] to retake Jolan,” said Sabah al-Noman, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism service that led the fight.
“DAESH [an Arabic acronym for the IS] did not fire a single bullet,” he said.
Several other senior military commanders said only small pockets of IS fighters remained in the Fallujah area.
According to the UN, 85,000 people were forced to flee their homes in the past month, leaving many crammed in hastily set-up camps with scant food or water.
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