The Islamic State has rounded up hundreds of civilians to use as human shields just as coalition forces have started to enter the city, the U.N. reports.
Various Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. and British air support, made their first push Tuesday morning into Fallujah after cutting off the city and bombarding it with air strikes. William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has claimed that at least 7 civilians are confirmed to have died Saturday. It is unclear how exactly they were killed in the crossfire.
VIDEO: Iraqi forces battle to retake Fallujah. https://t.co/ruBd6nHJDG
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 31, 2016
Initial reports have said that ISIS forces in the city have put up a strong fight against the coalition. Iraqi forces have engaged in a three-pronged assault of the city, aiming to retake its center. Thus far, the greatest gains have been seen in the south, near the suburb of Naimiyah.
Estimates say that around 50,000 civilians are still living inside Fallujah. Once a city of close to 250,000, Fallujah has been the scene of several battles since the U.S. invasion and was the first major population center in Iraq to fall to ISIS.
ISIS fighters operating in the city have actively prevented civilians from leaving under penalty of death. Despite the threat, many civilians took their chances and fled the city before ISIS fighters could round them up and use them as human shields.
“Our biggest fear was to be caught by ISIL fighters. They have no mercy; they will execute anyone whom they catch or even suspect of trying to flee,” said Safia Jasim Saoud, a former Fallujah resident, to Al-Jazeera. Saoud was able to escape three days ago with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.
Charles Lister, a fellow with the Middle East Institute (MEI), has said that approximately 60 percent of the casualties in the Fallujah fight thus far have been civilians. Of particular concern to Lister is the ever-present threat posed by the Iranian-backed Shia militia groups (known as Popular Mobilization Units, or PMUs) participating in the assault.
“ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) personnel will eventually recapture Fallujah, but the way in which victory is secured will determine the durability of stability in the city,” said Lister in a piece for MEI. “The involvement of various Iran-backed Shiite militias—many led by designated terrorists—has lent the offensive a sectarian tone that could otherwise have been avoided.”
The Shia PMUs are known to have committed various war crimes against Sunni residents once under ISIS control. ISIS theology sees the Shiites as heretical, which has exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq’s Muslim community.
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