Isis in Iraq: Thousands of Shia militiamen to join decisive battle to take back Fallujah –
Isis in Iraq: Thousands of Shia militiamen to join decisive battle to take back Fallujah – but lack of experience risks heavy casualties
July 14, 2015
Tens of thousands of Shia militiamen are poised to join the battle for Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, in a bid to recapture it from Isis fighters who seized the city 18 months ago. The battle is likely to be one of the decisive military engagements of the Iraq war as Fallujah has been at the centre of the Sunni revolt in Iraq since the US invaded the country in 2003.
“Fallujah is surrounded, but we will take it little by little,” Brigadier-General Ali Musleh, a senior commander of the Shia militia force known as the Hashid Shaabi, told The Independent as Iraqi armed forces pressed Fallujah on three sides. Iraqi forces say they are keeping open a corridor through which civilians can escape before ground fighting escalates.
In a brief statement, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, vowed to “take revenge from Daesh [Isis] criminals on the battlefield … and their cowardly crimes against unarmed civilians will only increase our determination to chase them and to expel them from the land of Iraq”.
The Hashid Shaabi is made up of volunteers who answered a call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani after Isis captured Mosul on 10 June 2014. The Iraqi government announced the beginning of the operation to retake the giant Sunni province of Anbar that is 85 per cent held by Isis. Hashid forces match Isis fighters in their fanatical willingness to fight to the death. They are numerous, inspired by religious faith and have been successful in fighting around Baghdad. But their failings include a lack of experienced commanders and training, leading to heavy casualties.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-in-iraq-thousands-of-shia-militiamen-to-join-decisive-battle-to-take-back-fallujah--but-lack-of-experience-risks-heavy-casualties-10386501.html