Ibrahim Mousawi: Liberation of most Fallujah areas decisive in war against Daesh

Ibrahim Mousawi, a political analyst in Beirut, was interviewed by Press TV about retaking the main government compound in Iraq’s Fallujah from the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

A rough transcription of the interview appears below.

Press TV: How big an achievement has this been as far as capturing this main government compound in Fallujah goes?

Mousawi: You are talking here about a very important achievement by the popular army and by the Iraqi army especially that Fallujah has always been a flash point. Fallujah has always been considered a stronghold for the Takfiri groups, namely Daesh. So when the army has been able to capture it and to liberate most of its zones, this is a very important and decisive juncture in the war against the Takfiri groups, namely Daesh.

We know very well that Fallujah has always been under the control of the Takfiris and they have been taking human beings as shields in order to hinder and to put obstacles in front of the Iraqi army to proceed forward, but nonetheless the army has been able to capture and to liberate the territory, most of the zones of the territory, and this is very important in the war because it will open up for other areas to follow suit and the Iraqi army sooner or later will be able to achieve more and more important and strategic gains.

But this is very important because the main road between Fallujah and Baghdad has been liberated and has been safe now. We know very well it could be used as a launching pad. It could be used as a launching or starting point for other battles that the Iraqi army hopefully would win in the future. 

Press TV: The offensive to retake Fallujah started in late May but it has been slowed down as Daesh has been fighting hard, using different tactics to slow down the progress of the Iraqi army, be it the using of human shields or increasing their terrorist attacks on cities like Baghdad. What more obstacles do you see in the path to the liberation of Fallujah?

Mousawi: We know very well that Daesh, they diversify their own styles and their way of fighting in many different ways and they have been given a lot of support, and if you want information by certain intelligence, namely Western apparatuses who are helping them, telling them, giving them information about the movements of the Iraqi army. We know at certain stages they have been dropping arms for them in one point or another.

So in the military level they could diversify their style in the battle field. They have been planting bombs and mines all over. They have been having booby traps even houses and neighborhoods that are completely booby trapped and they have a lot of mines that are being distributed there in order to hinder and put obstacles in front of the Iraqi army.

They might resort to many different styles but I believe now with this momentum, with this moral support, with this moral push that the Iraqi army and the popular front has been achieving, this is going to give them more and more push in order to go forward.

So far the Daesh terrorist group has been taking the residents, has been taking the civilians as hostages, as shields, in order to obstacle and to hinder the entrance of the Iraqi army to the different parts of Fallujah. I believe this is not going to help them because now we know very well that there is a decisive decision and the resolve that is not going to be [shaken] at all, that the whole city is going to be liberated.

Press TV: And before I let you go, very quickly if you can, we have also seen the narrative in the mainstream media when it comes to the role of the Popular Mobilization Units in the liberation of Fallujah where they claimed that these units have been carrying out atrocities against the people of Fallujah who have been fleeing. What do you say to that?

Mousawi: We have been bombarded, all the public opinion knows now very well. Those who follow the news they know very well and we know what kind of news channels are doing this. You are talking about Al Jazeera, you are talking about Al Arabiya, you are talking about those who follow a certain political line, the axis that follows those who follow the Western style actually, they are trying to distort the image of the popular mobilization because of the very important military gains that they did.

Actually it is the Daesh that is taking the people and the citizens as hostages. We know very well and we have been able to see this concretely, there are documents, there are videos that document that the popular mobilization have been helping the civilians in order to survive, in order to replace them from one dangerous zone into another one. I believe this is part of the propaganda war that they are trying as much as they can to make an excuse for the Daesh because of its retreat and defeat in the area.

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