Iraqi forces report they have retaken Fallujah’s central government compound, marking their first notable victory inside the city during a weeklong struggle against Islamic State.
Iraqi officials flew the Iraqi flag over the building on Friday. The building is part of a compound that also consists of the city’s police headquarters and courthouses. Although this is an important victory, the military stated it is still fighting a significant number of militants in the city.
Government forces surrounded Fallujah General Teaching Hospital, a building the Islamic State militants used as a command center. Fallujah, as the first major city seized by Islamic State in 2014, has been an Islamic State stronghold since then. Taking the city was a major step towards Sunni Muslim extremists controlling about one-third of Iraq.
The mission to liberate Fallujah began in May when a coalition of Iraqi forces made up of federal police and counterterrorism forces were backed by an airstrike from a U.S.-led coalition. They were also supported by Shiite militiamen and local Sunni tribal fighters.
Prior to the launch of this campaign, Fallujah was considered an impenetrable stronghold of Islamic State control in Iraq, partly because the majority of the population is Sunni. After a day of battle on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraqi commanders reported Islamic State offered little resistance towards the push into the city. On Thursday, Iraqi militants opened two bridges over the Euphrates river, which allowed civilians to flee the city, said Fallujah’s mayor, Essa al-Essawi. Residents have been fleeing the city since May to escape being used as human shields by Islamic State.
Brig. Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command in Baghdad, spoke on the subject.
“We hope within the next few days to cleanse the whole of Fallujah from Daesh militants,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.