Iraq announced Monday that a massive operation to retake Anbar, the country's largest province, from the Islamic State has begun. In a televised address, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that in the ongoing offensive to liberate the province, "we will punish the criminals of ISIS in the battlefields," according to the Wall Street Journal.
The government has fielded at least 5,000 fighters that included the military, police, Shiite militias called Hashid Shaabi units and Sunni tribal fighters, accoring to Al Jazeera. The operation began early in the morning. Recent news updates indicate fierce fighting between the Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants. Sources close to the operation told Reuters, for instance, that the insurgents deployed suicide car bombs and launched rockets to deter the Iraq forces, who are advancing towards the city of Falluja. Citizens of the city as well as those in Ramadi, the provincial capital, have also reported heavy bombardment.
"It is likely that this operation will concentrate on the second city in Anbar province, Fallujah, and move further west. While this is going on, we have also heard coalition airstrikes have hit an ISIL media and radio station in Anbar province," Al Jazeera reported.
Islamic State militants captured Anbar province in May in what can be considered its biggest blow to the Iraqi military. The Iraqi government has been building up its forces and preparing for an attack since then. The two-month period that it took the Iraqi government to launch the operation allowed the Islamic State to seize more territories in the province, which lies several miles west of Baghdad.
The role of a U.S.-led coalition in the current operation against the Islamic State is still unclear. However, it has been involved in the early preparation for the "Battle of Anbar," as HNGN previously reported in May. The report cited a White House statement that identified a U.S.-led air campaign that will support the coalition of Iraqi forces on the ground.
