Islamic State has been entirely routed from Falluja, one of the jihadi group’s two major Iraqi strongholds, a senior Iraqi commander has declared, marking the end of a month-long operation during which tens of thousands of people fled the city. Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, the head of the counter-terrorism forces in the operation, said on Sunday that Iraqi troops had entered the north-western Golan neighbourhood, the last area of Falluja to remain under Isis control. Saadi said the operation, which was launched in late May by the Iraqi army backed by US-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shia militias, was over and that the city was “fully liberated”. He said 1,800 Iraqi fighters had been killed and as much as 30% of the city destroyed in the bloody battle to retake the city, which fell to Isis in January 2014. Greater military resources will now be turned to the attack on Mosul, the other major city held by Isis in Iraq. Mosul is a considerably larger city, and the political alliance required to unify the forces seeking to oust Isis is more complex since it will involve Kurds and the Iraqi army. The US has for months been overseeing the planned operation for the full attack on Mosul. Hailing the liberation of Falluja, a Sunni Muslim city 40 miles west of Baghdad, Saadi declared: “The Falluja fight is over.” He was flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers shot into the air, chanted and waved the Iraqi flag. Iraq’s prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, had previously claimed the city had been captured, but his claims were premature. In the meantime thousands of residents fled to camps on the outskirts. Karl Schembri, an official with the Norwegian Refugee Council, which is running camps for displaced people, described the situation last week as deteriorating by the day and said the camps were “hell on earth”. Civilians were surviving on three litres of water a day in Iraq’s searing summer heat. A spokesman for the local council, Salam Ajami al-Halbusi, said: “The percentage of damage in several areas of Falluja after they have been liberated from Isis control has been estimated to be around 30%. The damages were caused during the organised terrorist operations.” He added: “Isis used thousands of IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and hundreds of booby-trapped vehicles. Isis also booby-trapped the houses of the army and police members, tribal leaders and everyone who objected to the terrorist organisation’s ideology.” By contrast, the Iraqi defence minister, Khaled al-Obaidi, said 90% of Falluja was considered habitable because the relative speed of the fight had prevented large-scale destruction. The conflict with Isis, which also controls large parts of neighbouring Syria, has forced more than 3.4 million Iraqis to flee their homes. More than 40% of the displaced are from Anbar province, according to the UN. The collapse or retreat in Falluja is the latest in a string of setbacks for Isis, which has recently come under sustained pressure on many fronts in Syria and Iraq. The militants are close to losing one of their footholds in Syria, with US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters besieging the town of Manbij in the province of Aleppo, an Isis outpost not far from the Turkish border which had allowed it to threaten rebel groups fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. This year Isis lost Ramadi, the capital of the predominantly Sunni Anbar province, though much of the city was destroyed in the campaign. It is also in retreat in Sirte in Libya, in a collapse that came much more quickly than even the most optimistic western forces had expected. During an insurgency waged by Isis’s militant predecessor, al-Qaida, against US forces in Iraq, Falluja was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat. In 2004 more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles. Isis declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.
A senior military figure has announced the liberation of former ISIS stronghold, Falluja. On 26 June, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, head of the counter-terrorism forces in the operation, revealed that troops had entered the Golan neighbourhood in the north-west of the city, ending ISIS’ control of Falluja. Last week saw Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi similarly hail the recapture of Falluja, a claim that proved premature. Al-Saadi argued that the city was now “fully liberated” and said that 30% of the city had been destroyed in the operation. This contrasted with the comments of Iraq’s defence minister, Khaled al-Obaidi, who said that 90% of the city is habitable. The military’s attention is now expected to shift to Mosul, the country’s other main city that remains under ISIS’ control.