As Fallujah is liberated, Daesh shows it is weaker than expected
Prime Minister Abadi makes jubilant speech. Iraqi military acknowledges remaining pockets of resistance. Daesh leaders have run away, leaving fighters behind. Many residents who fled are now in camps.
Falluja (AsiaNews) – Falluja has been liberated from the terrorists of the so-called Caliphate.
“Iraqi forces are now in the centre of the city,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi in an address to the nation in which he congratulated the people of Iraq for this victory.
In his televised speech, the prime minister promised further victories in Mosul, calling on all government agencies to provide Falluja civilians the humanitarian aid they need.
“We promised to liberate Fallujah, and today Fallujah was returned to the bosom of the country,” Abadi said.
Addressing the militants directly, he said, “Your leaders have made promises to you and let you down. They promised you that they would withstand, and they didn’t,” he said. “You have no place in this Iraq.”
Fallujah, which lies just 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, was one of IS's key historical bastions since 2014.
"The counter-terrorism service and the rapid response forces have retaken the government compound in the centre of Fallujah," said Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, the operation's overall commander.
"There is a mass flight of Daesh to the west that explains this lack of resistance. There are only pockets of them left and we are hunting them down," Saadi added.
A military statement said the federal police had raised the Iraqi state flag above the government building and were continuing to pursue insurgents.
News of Falluja’s liberation has echoed positively across the country. Some media call the city’s liberation a glorious page in Iraq’s contemporary history.
Everything indicates that Daesh put up less resistance than expected, undermining its own claim of invincibility as promoted for months by its propaganda machine.
The flight of its leaders who abandoned Daesh front-line soldiers will likely contribute to disaffection among Caliphate sympathisers, as the would-be state undergoes military and moral collapse.
Meanwhile, dozens of bodies of dead Daesh fighters are rotting in the bombed out city.
Aid groups estimate that 50,000 civilians were trapped in the city when Iraqi troops moved against it.
Many residents fled, ending up in refugee camps. At present, it is unclear how many civilians are left in the city. During the fighting, Daesh used civilians as human shields. (PB)
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