Alwaght- Iraqi forces have slowed down the massive military offensive to eject ISIS terrorists from the strategic Fallujah town to avoid killing civilians trapped in the city.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Wednesday that, "It would have been possible to end the battle quickly if protecting civilians wasn't among our priorities."
He further noted that the Iraqi army units are stationed “at the outskirts of Fallujah and victory is within reach."
ISIS terrorists have now resorted to using several hundred families as “human shields”.
Witnesses have told the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) just one day after Iraqi troops forced their way into Fallujah city, desperate ISIS terrorists are hiding behind women and children who were unable to flee the city during the operation to recapture it.
"UNHCR has received reports of causalities among civilians in the city center of Fallujah due to heavy shelling, including 7 members of one family on the 28th of May," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said during a Tuesday news briefing.
Iraq’s most influential Islamic cleric went to unusual lengths to warn against killing civilians
“Don’t be extreme … don’t be treacherous,” said Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who commands a massive following. “Don’t kill an old man, nor a boy, nor a woman.... Don’t cut a tree unless you have to.”
Ayatollah Sistani’s call to respect the ethics of jihad, by invoking the words of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), signals his desire both to ensure the war on ISIS does not wreck unity in the country.
Fallujah, which saw some of the heaviest fighting of the US military invasion between 2003 and 2011, was the first city in Iraq to fall to ISIS.
The Takfiri extremists seized control of Fallujah in January 2014, six months before they swept across northern and western Iraq.
