Daesh Commanders Fleeing Fallujah: PMF Spokesman
BAGHDAD (Tasnim) – Spokesperson for the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Jaafar al-Asadi said senior commanders of the Daesh (also known as ISIS and ISIL) are fleeing the battlefield in Fallujah as the Iraqi army is closing in on the terrorist-held city from three directions.
Speaking to Tasnim on Monday, al-Asadi said heavy clashes are underway at the entrances of the city of Fallujah between the army troops and the Daesh terrorists.
According to the latest reports coming out of the city, the Iraqi forces, backed by Iraq’s best trained and most seasoned fighting unit, thrust into the city before dawn.
Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander of the operation, said, “Iraqi forces entered Fallujah under air cover from the Iraqi air force and army aviation, and supported by artillery and tanks.
“CTS (counter-terrorism service) forces, the Anbar (provincial) police and the Iraqi army, at around 4:00 am (0100 GMT), started moving into Fallujah from three directions.”
The spokesman for the PMF further said that, certain of the city’s imminent liberation, dozens of senior ringleaders of the terrorist group have escaped the battlefield in Fallujah.
The latest developments came after the Iraqi army and volunteer fighters seized control of a village in northern Fallujah late on Saturday, closing in on the city.
Iraqi media on Sunday said the forces recaptured the village of Siha in northern Fallujah.
The Iraqi army, supported by volunteer forces, began the operation to recapture Fallujah on May 23, first by tightening its siege around the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, and has now begun a direct assault.
In January 2014, Fallujah became the first Iraqi city to fall under the control of the militants, six months before they declared a caliphate over territory seized in Iraq and Syria.