The Advance On Fallujah Has Slowed, And Iraq’s Shiite Militias Want To Step In
By Hugh Naylor June 4 at 4:52 PM
SAQLAWIYAH, Iraq — Only a few days ago, the Islamic State ruled this verdant Iraqi farmland. By Saturday, the area was firmly controlled by powerful Shiite militias, which delivered swift blows to the Sunni extremists and severed their supply lines to nearby Fallujah.
Iraq’s government has ordered the militiamen to stay away from the battle to drive the Islamic State out of Fallujah, fearing further sectarian unrest from their presence inside the Sunni stronghold.
The assault on the city — a key test in the U.S.-supported campaign to oust the Islamic State from Iraq — is being led by the military, police and elite counterterrorism forces. But their progress has slowed, and Shiite militia leaders on the outskirts here, such as Hadi al-Amiri, appear antsy.
He wants to send in the Iranian-backed fighters of his Badr Organization, which he commands.
“No one can stop us from going there,” Amiri said Saturday at a commandeered farmhouse about a mile west of Fallujah.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-advance-on-fallujah-has-slowed-and-iraqs-shiite-militias-want-to-step-in/2016/06/04/ad29eb84-29de-11e6-8329-6104954928d2_story.html