BAGHDAD // Iraqi forces retook the main government compound in Fallujah on Friday, senior commanders said, a breakthrough in the nearly month-long offensive against ISIL in the city.
The elite federal forces met limited resistance from ISIL fighters, who are redeploying on the western outskirts of the city, the commanders said.
“The counter-terrorism service and the rapid response forces have retaken the government compound in the centre of Fallujah,” the operation’s overall commander, Lieut Gel Abdulwahab Al Saadi, said.
Raed Shaker Jawdat, Iraq’s federal police chief, confirmed the advance.
“The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolises the restoration of the state’s authority” in Fallujah, he said.
The government lost control of Fallujah in 2014, months before ISIL took the second city Mosul and swept across large parts of the country.
Fallujah, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, is one of ISIL’s emblematic strongholds and its loss would leave Mosul as the only major Iraqi city under its control.
In the hours running up to the push into the heart of the city, Iraqi forces retook several neighbourhoods in the south and east, giving them control over nearly half the city.
“This operation was done with little resistance from Daesh,” Lt Gen Al Saadi said.
“There is a mass flight of Daesh to the west that explains this lack of resistance. There are only pockets of them left and we are hunting them down.”
Security officials said many ISIL members had managed to slip out of the city by blending in with fleeing civilians in recent days, in some cases paying off security forces.
“The top leaders are mostly gone and those left behind to defend the city are not their best fighters, which explains their performance,” said a security officer.
Tens of thousands of civilians were forced from their homes since the start of the operation last month.
The first to escape ISIL rule were those living in rural outlying areas, in the early phase of the operation which saw a myriad different Iraqi forces seal the siege of the city.
Residents of the city centre had been trapped in dire conditions for days but recent advances have allowed large numbers to escape.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs camps for the displaced near Fallujah, said the sudden influx meant relief was drying up quickly.
“Thousands of civilians from Fallujah are right now heading towards displacement camps in a dramatic development that is overwhelming emergency aid provision and services,” it said.
With ISIL on the retreat in the city, a window has opened for civilians to leave but the journey remained dangerous, with several instances of fleeing civilians killed or wounded by roadside bombs.
There were an estimated 50,000 people in the city when the operation was launched but it is unclear how many remained.
Civilians were used as human shields by ISIL and those who managed to flee face the risk of sectarian-motivated abuse by elements of the pro-government forces.
* Agence France-Presse
