Ekip
14 July 2016•Update: 14 July 2016
By Sulayman al-Qubaisi
ANBAR, Iraq
Security in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which the army recaptured from the Daesh terrorist group late last month, is now being overseen by the army, police and local tribal fighters, according to local officials.
"Army troops and police units, in coordination with local tribal fighters, have assumed responsibility for security in liberated Fallujah," Mohamed Yasin, who represents the city in Anbar’s provincial council, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
Located along the Euphrates River about 50 kilometers west of capital Baghdad, Fallujah is one of the biggest cities in Iraq’s western Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the regional capital.
"They [army, police and tribal fighters] are currently deployed at Fallujah’s entrances and exits and have been stationed in various areas throughout the city," Yasin said.
Many of the army troops who helped retake Fallujah last month, he added, had since withdrawn to Baghdad.
In a related development, Major-General Ismail al-Mahlawi, commander of the army-run Anbar Operations Command, said that military aircraft had destroyed a "terrorist stronghold" in Ramadi’s Al-Jazeera district as part of ongoing operations aimed at rooting out Daesh.
According to Major-General Qassim al-Muhammadi, international coalition warplanes had also struck "terrorist concentrations" in the Dulab region and near the Haditha Dam some 160 kilometers west of Ramadi.
Late last month, Shakir Jawdat, commander of Iraq’s Federal Police, announced the "total liberation" of Fallujah from Daesh following a month-long military operation.
Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since 2014, when Daesh captured the northern city of Mosul and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country, including Fallujah.
