WASHINGTON –
Iraqi security forces operations backed by the U.S.-led
coalition are progressing toward liberating the key Iraqi city of Fallujah from
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant control and killed the city’s ISIL
commander, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren told
Pentagon reporters today.
Briefing from Baghdad by teleconference, Warren said Iraqi
forces have cleared Karmah, 10 miles northeast of Fallujah, but have not yet
entered the city of about 50,000 Iraqi residents.
Protecting Civilians
“The Iraqi government has been clear that protecting these
civilians is their priority,” he said. To communicate with Fallujah’s
residents, coalition aircraft dropped leaflets telling those who cannot leave
the city to affix white sheets on their rooftops to mark their locations,
Warren said.
The Iraqi army is working on evacuation routes for Fallujah
residents, while the Anbar provincial government has set up camps for the
displaced people, he added.
The combined operation includes thousands of forces -- the
Iraqi army and federal police, Sunni tribal fighters and the Iraqi Counter
Terrorism Service, in addition to Iraq's popular mobilization forces that are
taking part outside the city, Warren said.
Coalition airstrikes from Taqqadum with some artillery fire
are also supporting the operation to retake Fallujah, the colonel said, but he
added it’s still early in the fight, “so it's unclear how long this battle will
last.”
ISIL fighters have performed in one of two ways the past the
last several months, Warren said. “In Ramadi, we encountered an enemy that
chose to stand and fight,” he explained. “More recently in Hit and in Rutbah,
ISIL hid behind women and children before throwing down their weapons and
running away. In both cases, they lost.”
Warren said a local newspaper reported ISIL leadership
arrested some of its fighters who had fled from Rutbah and executed them by
cooking them to death in bakery ovens.
Counter-ISIL Forces on Operations in Raqqah
Syrian Democratic Forces battling ISIL control in that
nation announced this week that they are conducting regular operations to
liberate the countryside north of Raqqah, Warren said.
“We will continue to support the SDF, particularly the
Syrian-Arab component, as they conduct ground operations to further isolate the
city,” he said, adding that more than 200 Americans advise the Syrian-Arab
coalition as they pressure ISIL across a broad front stretching from the
Tishrin Dam to Shaddadi.
Remembering Fallen OIR Service Members
Warren said it’s important this Memorial Day to remember the
three Americans who lost their lives supporting Operation Inherent Resolve:
Army Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin and Navy
Chief Petty Officer Charles Keating IV.
“These men are American heroes and will not be forgotten,”
he said. “Every warrior knows that when we speak the names of the fallen, they
live on.”