Iraqi Forces Take Full Control of Fallujah From Islamic State
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the country’s military wrested full control of Fallujah from Islamic State, paving the way for an offensive to reclaim Mosul, the last major city controlled by the terror group in Iraq. Mr. Abadi, flanked by triumphant senior military officers, spoke in Fallujah’s city center on Sunday evening and called […]Tamer El-Ghobashy and Ghassan Adnan write for The Wall Street Journal:
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the country’s military wrested full control of Fallujah from Islamic State, paving the way for an offensive to reclaim Mosul, the last major city controlled by the terror group in Iraq.
Mr. Abadi, flanked by triumphant senior military officers, spoke in Fallujah’s city center on Sunday evening and called on Iraqis to celebrate in the streets, hailing the victory as a rare moment of national unity.
“This Iraqi flag is flying in Fallujah,” he said in an address carried by state television, donning a black military-style uniform and waving a large flag. “God willing, soon it will be flying in Mosul.”
Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim city 40 miles west of the capital Baghdad, was the first major city to fall to Islamic State ahead of a 2014 offensive by the group that saw it take over about a third of the country.
The city had been a bastion of Islamic State control and served as a command center from which it has coordinated devastating suicide attacks against civilians in Baghdad. The battle for Fallujah has been seen as a test of preparedness for the larger offensive to come in Mosul.
