Iraqi military and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi volunteer forces) said on Sunday it was preparing to launch an offensive to retake DAESH stronghold of Falluja and told residents to get ready to leave before fighting started.
Families who could not flee should raise white flags to mark their location in the city 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, the army’s media unit said in a statement on state television.
Falluja, a long-time bastion of DAESH, was the first city to fall to DAESH, in January 2014, six months before the group swept through large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
The Iraqi army, police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi volunteer forces) have surrounded Falluja since late last year. The Wahhabi jihadists have prevented residents from leaving for months.
The army “is asking citizens that are still in Falluja to be prepared to leave the city through secured routes that will be announced later,” the statement said, without saying when any offensive might start.
Known as the “City of Minarets and Mother of Mosques”, Falluja is a focus for Sunni Muslim faith and identity in Iraq. It was badly damaged in two offensives by U.S. forces against al Qaeda insurgents in 2004.
Besides Falluja, DAESH still controls vast swathes of territory and major cities like Mosul in the north, which Iraqi authorities have pledged to retake this year.
