Iraq launches assault on jihadi stronghold Fallujah

Baku. 7 July. REPORT.AZ/ Iraqi armed forces and allied militia were on Monday night fighting to reach the gates of Fallujah, the first major attempt to recapture a city in the largely Sunni province of Anbar since most of it fell to Isil last year.

Report informs citing foreign media, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government is trying to reverse gains by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after it seized the capital Ramadi in May.

Despite Baghdad’s promises that its armed forces would swiftly recapture Ramadi, Shia militia operating alongside government forces and far more numerous and powerfu the attack on Fallujah, a long-established seat of militancy, was the priority.

Fallujah lies between Ramadi and Baghdad, and the new offensive is aimed at protecting the capital, and cutting Isil supply lines.

The authorities claim to hold the western, southern and eastern approaches to the city, and Jaafar Hussaini, a spokesman for Kataib Hizbollah, one of the forces that make up the Hashed al-Sha'abi, the pro-government coalition of Shia militias fighting Isil, said a northern supply route was now also under their control.