Alwaght- Iraqi Forces have retaken control over a city in the western Anbar Province as first major step to recapture the ISIS stronghold, Fallujah.
The forces on Monday pushed the terror group out of al-Karmah, 13 km to the east of Fallujah, raising the Iraqi flag over its major buildings, Iraq’s Alsumaria television reported.
General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, who commands Operation Break Terrorism aimed at retaking Fallujah, said regular Iraqi security forces and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) took part in the liberation.
The PMF has taken part in major operations against ISIS, most prominently the Second Battle of Tikrit where they proved their military aptitude. Joining hands with other forces in the operation, the PMF played a major role in the largest anti-ISIS offensive involving some 20,000 fighters up until March 2015.
General Abdul-Wahab said dozens of ISIS members were killed in the operation, adding sappers are now clearing the city of mines and bombs "which may have been planted in pathways or houses.”
The military considers al-Karmah as the bridgehead for liberation of Fallujah.
Operation Break Terrorism started out late Sunday on the orders of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
On Monday, Abadi hailed "big successes" by troops, hours after launching the military operation to recapture Fallujah, saying the offensive achieved "more than what was planned for."
Fallujah, located about 65 kilometers west of Baghdad, was at the center of controversy during the US-led invasion of Iraq. In April 2004, the US military promised revenge to the Blackwater USA deaths after militants ambushed a convoy containing four American private contractors. The result was the First Battle of Fallujah which proved to be a failure involving US withdrawal, a handing over of operations to the Fallujah Brigade, and a subsequent turning over of US weapons to militants, prompting the Second Battle of Fallujah.
In early 2014, the government lost control over the city to ISIS. It is ISIS’s last stronghold in the sprawling Anbar Province. The Iraqi military recaptured the central city of Ramadi, Anbar’s provincial capital, last December.
Abadi has pledged to rid the entire country of ISIS by the end of 2016.
