Shia Militias and ISF Continue Battle to Oust IS from Fallujah

Just over a week ago, Iraqi authorities declared their intention to begin the “battle to liberate the Anbar province” from Islamic State forces. This entails the recapture of Fallujah, and then the eventual recapture of Ramadi. The operation intends to utilize Iranian-backed Shia militias in Fallujah and US-backed forces in Ramadi. Fallujah has been under the control of Islamic State militants since January 1, 2014. Reportedly, recapturing Fallujah is the military operation’s main objective, largely to help counter Islamic State threats to Baghdad.

With Iranian-backed Shia Militias leading the fight in Fallujah, there’s a risk that the Sunni population may be further isolated from the Iraqi federal government. That’s particularly true if the operation results in heavy Sunni civilian casualties, as militias advance through the use of indiscriminate rocket and artillery fire, as has been previously noted on the Free Fire blog.

The situation in Fallujah is moving and changing at a very rapid pace, which makes obtaining a wide coverage of current events difficult. However, many individuals have sent updates and photos to Twitter which provides some insight into the status of Fallujah.

Brett McGurk, Ambassador/Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, posted on his twitter on July 16, that 31 new coalition airstrikes have destroyed ISIL units in numerous areas, including Fallujah. This is particularly significant because if true, it signifies US involvement in Fallujah. As mentioned above, the Shia militias fighting in Fallujah are backed by Iran. If the US is involved in Fallujah, it is essentially supporting Iranian proxy forces. The US has been in this sort of controversial position before in Tikrit when, “The decision to give air support to the Tikrit campaign pull[ed] the United States into a messy battle that puts the U.S. led-coalition…on the same side of a fight as Iranian-backed militia in a bid to support Iraqi forces…”.

Based on a number of sources, the majority of the action seems to be occurring to the north and east of Fallujah. Reportedly, events from these areas include: Iraqi Special Forces (ISF) and Shia militia forces have taken control over parts of Albo Sha’el which is directly north of Fallujah; ISIS defense lines north and east of Fallujah have been collapsed; Shia militias and ISF forces and seized Al-Erifa and Al-Dawaya which are both northeast of Fallujah; and Shia militias have also moved into the village of al-Jarrah, which lies northeast of Fallujah.

Islamic State forces are reportedly holding residents of Fallujah as hostages. IS has also conducted a suicide blast in Fallujah which left 22 dead. And according to a post that was uploaded just a couple hours ago, 113 Shia militia and ISF have been killed fighting the Islamic State north of Fallujah.

While the US is expected to be more involved in the operation to recapture Ramadi, but Fallujah remains an importance offensive. With Islamic State forces expelled from Fallujah, Iraqi forces will have relieved pressure on Baghdad. The expulsion would also help Iraqi forces to further cut off additional Islamic State supply lines. It remains to be seen how events in Fallujah will develop as the fight for the city continues.