TARIQ CAMP, Iraq—Iraq’s special forces completed a troop
buildup around Fallujah on Sunday ahead of an operation to retake the
Islamic State-held city west of Baghdad, a military officer said, as the
militants attacked a newly-liberated town to the west.
Teaming up with paramilitary troops and backed by aerial support from
the U.S.-led coalition, the government launched a large-scale offensive
to dislodge ISIS militants from Fallujah a week ago.
The city, located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, is
one of the last major ISIS strongholds in Iraq. The extremist group
still controls territory in the country’s north and west, including
Mosul, the country’s second largest city.
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The last battalion from Iraq’s Special Forces Service arrived at dawn
Sunday at the sprawling Tariq Camp outside Fallujah, said Maj. Dhia
Thamir. He declined to comment on troop numbers or the timing of the
expected assault.
He said troops have recaptured 80 percent of the territory around the
city since the operation began and are currently battling ISIS to the
northeast as they seek to tighten the siege ahead of a planned final
push into the city center.
The militants meanwhile launched an attack Sunday on the town of Hit,
85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, which was recaptured by
government troops last month. A military officer said the extremists
entered three neighborhoods and were engaged in heavy clashes with Iraqi
forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes. The officer was not authorized to
release information so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Fallujah, which saw some of the heaviest fighting of the 2003-2011
U.S.-led military intervention, was the first city in Iraq to fall to
ISIS. The extremists seized control of Fallujah in January 2014, six
months before they swept across northern and western Iraq and declared a
caliphate.
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