Iraqi forces say they have secured the southern edge of Falluja, two weeks after the launch of an operation to recapture the city from Isis. Lieutenant General Abdel Wahab al-Saadi said his forces secured the largely agricultural southern neighbourhood of Naymiya, under cover of US-led coalition airstrikes, and are poised to enter the main city. The declaration came after the commander of an Iraqi paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed units said on Sunday it was willing to send forces into Falluja if efforts to retake the city were too slow. Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, military commander of the Hashed al-Shaabi militias, said its forces had surrounded Falluja and left breaching operations to counter-terrorism forces, but that could change if the fighting dragged on. “We’re partners in the liberation, our mission is not yet done,” he told reporters in Baghdad. “We are still in the area and we’ll continue to support [them] if the liberation happens quickly. If they are not able, we’ll enter with them.” The Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has said Hashed forces would not enter the city, 30 miles west of Baghdad, amid fears of sectarian unrest and abuses against Falluja’s Sunni population. The slow-moving operation against Isis in Falluja was announced in May. On Monday, Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism forces began pushing into the city centre, but they have faced stiff resistance as Falluja has been under Isis control for more than two years, and the militants have been able to erect complex defences. Falluja was the first major city to be seized by Isis, taken long before the militants surged into northern Iraq and conquered the Nineveh plains and Iraq’s second city, Mosul. Although it has less strategic value than the populous city of Mosul, the Sunni city carries great symbolic weight for the Iraqi government and Isis. Falluja was a hotbed in the insurgency that raged in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and saw two separate offensives by the US military in 2004 that destroyed much of the city.
Iraqi military forces have said that they have taken the southern edge of Falluja from ISIS . Two weeks into their operation to recapture the city, Lieutenant General Al-Saadi said that the southern neighbourhood of Naymiya had fallen to his forces, leaving the military poised to enter the city. Falluja was the first major city that ISIS took control of in Iran . Hashed al-Shaabi ’s comments came after the commander of the Sunni paramilitary organisation, Hashed al-Shaabi , which is dominated by units that enjoy the backing of Iran , announced that his forces would enter Falluja if other efforts to retake the city were deemed to be too slow. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has warned against this because of fears of sectarian unrest and likely abuses against the city’s Sunni population.