The military operation to retake Fallujah has ended and there are just "malignant" pockets of resistance left to clear up, with more than 600 "rebels" killed, Iraq 's national security advisor said on Saturday. "Operation Fajr has been achieved and only the malignant pockets remain that we are dealing with through a clean-up operation," Qassem Daoud told a news conference in Baghdad. Asked about the situation in the south of the city, where clashes were reported Saturday, he said: "The mission is accomplished and there only remains these few pockets, which are being cleaned up." Daoud said that "the number of (Fallujah fighters) killed has risen to more than 1,000 and we have arrested more than 200 so far." Before the US raid started last Monday it was estimated that 2,000 to 2,500 armed men were in the city. Meanwhile, foreign aid agencies warned about the plight of civilians trapped in Fallujah. The Red Cross and Red Crescent have voiced deep concern about a developing humanitarian crisis among those of Fallujah's 300,000 residents who stayed there after the fighting started. The Red Crescent sent a convoy of emergency supplies on Saturday, despite having no permission to enter the battle field, because civilians are dying of starvation and thirst, a spokeswoman said, according to AP. (Albawaba.com) Fadhil Badran, Aljazeera's correspondent in Falluja, said fighting was fierce and continuous in Falluja's south-eastern neighbourhood al-Shuhadaa and in al-Julan to the north-west. Day sometimes turns into night due to the intense smoke from burning homes, shops and factories as also from US military vehicles set ablaze, Badran said. US forces have moved from the middle to the north of the town, Badran said. The north and west are still controlled by the city's Iraqi resistance, he said, adding that large numbers of fighters were present in the Senaee and Askari neighbourhoods. Describing the conditions of civilians as abysmal, Badran said US air strikes had killed several families. Women, children and the sick have been buried in their gardens, he said." "I met a Falluja civilian who told me that he asked the Red Crescent for help but they could not oblige. He said he had buried two of his children and that two would die today, and hence he would not need any assistance," Badran said. The attack on Falluja has inflamed resentment across central Iraq, where anti-US fighters have launched a wave of attacks and bombings. Iraqi national guardsmen based near the Syrian border were ordered to move to Mosul where the fighters have taken over streets and police stations since Wednesday. On Saturday, looters rampaged through a palace that had been used as a US base in Mosul after troops apparently left at dawn. Cars and trucks packed with people swarmed to the palace, where they were seen making off with food, equipment and clothes, even a mattress, a reporter at the scene in northern Mosul said. The government fired Mosul's police chief after nine police stations fell into the hands of fighters. Residents said armed men roamed the streets on Saturday, with no sign of security forces. The US military denied on Friday that Mosul was out of control, but said it had launched air strikes on Thursday night to try to curb fighters. The United States said the Falluja offensive launched by 10,000 US and 2000 Iraqi troops on Monday would not stop until all resistance in the city had been wiped out. Jihad Unspun reported – by Omar Al-Faris, JUS and Muhammad Abu Nasr, Free Arab Voice While JUS normally publishes articles and editorial comments on the weekend, the decisive battle that is raging in Fallujah can’t be ignored. Consequently we are filing this special bulletin and will keep you updated as news comes in from the city over the weekend. US forces that remain inside Fallujah are now surrounded. The American were forced to move troops out of the city as the conflict widened and is now raging throughout the Sunni triangle and in the capital city. In a bait and switch maneuver, Mujahideen in the city Friday allowed US aggressor troops into several areas of the city and then encircled them. This allowed the Mujahideen to wage the battle on their own terms. The US military has been mobbing along the main roads and avoiding the side-streets. The soldiers do not leave their armored vehicles and tanks. If they get fired on, they fire back from their tanks or call in air-strikes. By convincing the Americans that the Mujahideen had left, the fighters were able to attack and fight the US troops in areas where their aircraft and heavy weapons can not help them. According to plan, US troops proceeded down as-Sirdar Street in the al-Jawlan and ash-Shurtah neighborhoods. They also entered the al-‘Askari neighborhood from the direction of the First and Second ad-Dubbat neighborhoods on the street that runs between the ash-Shurtah neighborhood to the north and the al-‘Askari neighborhood to the south, bringing the US troops to the heart of the main street. There the attacks on the US forces began in earnest. The Mujahideen mounted several ambushes on the US troops and managed to cut some units off from the others, splitting up the attackers and enabling them to inflict damage on the American forces in men and materiel. The Mujahideen totally purged the industrial zone of American invader troops from the southeast. The an-Nazal and ash-Shuhada’ areas were also cleared of American forces. As of 10 pm local time Friday night, fighting was limited to the edges of those districts. At that time an entire US column was surrounded on al-Hadrah Street which is located between the ash-Shurtah neighborhood and the ad-Dubbat neighborhood. Mujahideen forces ambushed the Americans in those areas by posting sharpshooters along the path where the US troops were to come, enabling them to shoot down numerous foot soldiers that had been dropped from the air in Festival Square [Sahat al-Ihtifalat]. At the same time the narrow lanes pressed the forces of the two sides close together, preventing the Americans from making use of their airpower. US snipers on rooftops in Al-Jawlan have proven to be useless as the streets are too narrow to allow them to shoot with any kind of accuracy. At the time of filing, the Mujahideen was in a strong position thanks to its decision to adopt the strategy of street fighting that allowed for attracting the enemy into those streets and then hunting down their advance guards. The Mafkarat al-Islam’s correspondent in Fallujah also wrote that media reports about a major American breakthrough in Fallujah and that the Americans control 90 percent of the city are false. The US penetration into the city has been the result of Mujahideen efforts to draw the enemy in. The effect has been that heavy losses have been inflicted on the Americans. As to claims by some Arab media that US forces are now stationed inside the city, the correspondent noted that the only American contingent is located inside the city has been encircled by Mujahideen forces since before yesterday. It is able to remain there without being destroyed by virtue of the covering fire provided by American snipers posted on buildings in the area. The American unit has until the time of writing been unable to extract itself from its besieged position. US forces are trying to break the encirclement of an American column on al-Hadrah al-Muhammadiyah street in the neighborhoods of ash-Shurtah and ad-Dubbat. But the American column is well encircled on all sides. On Thursday, the Mujahideen encircled and destroyed a whole American column in the al-Jaghifi neighborhood. Fighting in Fallujah at the time of this filing is going on in two places: al-Hadrah al-Muhammadiyah and the north of the al-Jawlan neighborhood on as-Sirdar Street. Ten US troops were killed at 6pm Friday when Iraqi resistance forces attacked and destroyed two US Humvees in the area between Fallujah and al-‘Amiriyah. Mujahideen Appoint General Commander Of Operations, Spokesman The Iraqi Mujahideen forces in Fallujah on Thursday appointed one of their members as General Commander of all resistance formations in the city. There are more than eight Mujahideen organizations operating in the city. The groups has come together and united for the first time since the fall of Baghdad under the leadership of one of their men who has considerable experience in urban warfare. In addition, an official spokesman has been appointed, making the Mujahideen more organized. This new unity has encouraged the Fallujah Mujahideen to achieve the grand results that they achieved on Thursday. Since the unification, the Mujahideen in the city has made big advances in coordinating their activities and attacks using pre-planned and well-thought out military tactics. As a result, the US forces are now fighting a war of attrition. For the third straight day American forces have been drawn into the city allowing the Mujahideen to inflict heavy damage on the enemy. Could you belive this?
