Iraqi Forces Retake Fallujah Government Compound, Commanders Say

Iraqi forces have retaken the main government compound in Fallujah, top commanders said, a breakthrough in the nearly four–week-old offensive against the Islamic State (IS) group's bastion.


The elite federal forces met limited resistance from IS fighters, who are redeploying on the western outskirts of the city, the commanders told AFP.

"The counter-terrorism service and the rapid response forces have retaken the government compound in the centre of Fallujah," said the operation's overall commander, Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi.
Raed Shaker Jawdat, Iraq's federal police chief, confirmed the advance.

"The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolises the restoration of the state's authority" in Fallujah, he said.

The Government lost control of Fallujah in 2014, months before IS took second city Mosul and swept across large parts of the country.

Fallujah, which lies just 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, is one of IS's most emblematic strongholds and its loss would leave Mosul as the only major Iraqi city under its control.

In the hours running up to the latest push into the heart of Fallujah, Iraqi forces retook several neighbourhoods in the south and east, giving them control over close to 50 per cent of the city.

"This operation was done with little resistance from Daesh," Saadi said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
"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."

Security officials said many IS members had managed to slip out of the city by blending in with fleeing civilians in recent days, in some cases paying off security forces.

"The top leaders are mostly gone and those left behind to defend the city are not their best fighters, which explains their performance," said a security officer speaking on condition of anonymity.