Reports of heavy artillery shelling of the city that was the first to be captured by ISIL in 2014.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has announced the start of the military offensive to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), with reports of heavy artillery shelling of the city.
“By the name of God, we are here to announce that the Iraqi flag will soon be flying in the sky of Fallujah. Today, we will tear down the black flags of these despicable strangers who abducted this dear city,” he said on Monday.
“The time has come to liberate Fallujah and the victory will be ours. ISIL has nowhere to go but to flee the city….”
Earlier in the day, army had told residents of Fallujah to leave the area ahead of the offensive.
Families who cannot leave should raise white flags to mark their locations, the army’s media unit said, according to a broadcast on Sunday.
Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIL (also known as ISIS) in January 2014, six months before the group swept through large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
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| Iraqi army tells Fallujah residents to flee city |
The army “is asking the citizens that are still in Fallujah to be prepared to leave the city through secured routes that will be announced later,” the channel said.
The city on the Euphrates River, 50km west of the capital, had a pre-war population of about 300,000.
It is encircled by Iraqi forces and a coalition of Shia Muslim armed groups known as Hashid Shaabi.
Known as the “City of Minarets and Mother of Mosques”, Fallujah is a focus for Sunni Muslim faith and identity in Iraq. It was badly damaged in two offensives by US forces against suspected al-Qaeda fighters in 2004.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
