US dragging feet over recapture of Fallujah: Expert

Press TV has interviewed Zayd al-Isa, a Middle East expert in London, about Iraqi armed forces continuing to gain more ground in their military operations to retake the Daesh-held city of Fallujah.

A rough transcription of the interview appears below.

Press TV: How difficult has it been for the Iraqi army to liberate Fallujah considering the fact that Daesh has been holding civilians hostage?

Isa: Well the Iraqi army has made significant major headway in terms of retaking and recapturing the outlying areas which are highly strategic because they are considered to be the most strategic defense and the first line of defense for the city that is Karmah which Iraqi forces that were spearheaded by the Popular Mobilization Forces have managed to completely liberate. They have also liberated the area of Nuaimiya and now they are moving against the last remaining pockets of the Takfiri Daesh group, the terrorist groups in the area of Saqlawiyah.

Now the presence of large numbers of civilians has definitely impeded the progress of the Iraqi forces which have taken extra measures and … gone out of the way to provide security and to safeguard the safety of the civilians who are present in Fallujah, that the Takfiri group Daesh has gone out of their way to use as human shields and the Saudi government has been using this as an excuse, as a perfect pretext to prevent the recapture and the seizure back of Fallujah which it considers the bastion and the stronghold of the Daesh Takfiri group which has been armed, financed and provided with tremendous amount of logistical support and even salaries by the Saudis to the Takfiris who converged on Syria and then moved on to Iraq to break the backbone of Iraq and to overthrow [the government]. These are the overarching goals of the Saudi regime.

Now the Americans have been dragging their feet and also having cold feet about the recapture of Fallujah. Their overriding priority as Steven Warren has said has been Mosul and this has been acknowledged by McCain and also Joe Biden who converged on Baghdad to throw their weight behind their aim of going after Mosul and ignoring or forgetting Fallujah but things came to a head when the Takfiris, that is the Daesh group, has launched major suicide attacks against the vulnerable civilians in Baghdad particularly the Shia areas in order to provoke military, an armed confrontation between the security forces and the peaceful protesters who were demanding change and reform in Iraq.

Let’s not forget that the Saudis entered the so-called US-led coalition to fight ISIS (Daesh) in order to put down its vetoes, its first veto was not to destroy or dismantle ISIS but only to contain it, weaken it and redirect it towards its enemies which are considered the Syrian government and also to weaken, destabilize Iraq and to use it as a military arm against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Its second veto and it is a major red line for the Saudis that the Popular Mobilization Forces cannot and should not enter the province of Anbar and particularly Fallujah which is considered the bastion and the heartland of the Takfiri groups. Let’s not forget that most, the overwhelming majority of suicide attacks are launched from Fallujah, they emanate from Fallujah, the principle target is civilian areas in Baghdad in order to provoke a retaliatory, tit for tat response from the Popular Mobilization Forces.

So the overarching goal of Saudi Arabia is to prevent the Popular Mobilization Forces from entering Ramadi because they are the most effective, most efficient and they have proved that they have been a game changer and they have  liberated Tikrit, Jurf al-Sakhr and many areas and the Saudis want to invest further in the ISIS group.

Press TV: Let’s talk about Washington’s role in this. How much has the US been an impediment for the Iraqi government and army in their fight against ISIS at all levels I mean?

Isa: At all levels it has tried its absolute best ... to prevent the Iraqi army from heading towards Fallujah. It needs to use Fallujah as a leverage in order to exert pressure and in order to blackmail the Iraqi government and I have to say that one of the major mistakes of the current Iraqi government and the prime minister is adhering to and complying with the red lines of the US and also Saudi Arabia and has not moved against Fallujah and have tried to go off to Mosul which is a long distance away from Baghdad and it is not considered the main and major threat against Baghdad.

Let’s not forget that Fallujah lies only 50 to 60 kilometers from Baghdad. It has been used as a staging area, as a springboard for suicide attacks in order to severely threaten and severely undermine and destabilize the capital, Baghdad. It has been the main and principle threat against Baghdad and each time the Iraqi forces spearheaded by the Popular Mobilization Forces are on the verge of liberating or recapturing cities like Tikrit, like Baiji and like Jurf al-Sakhar, Daesh uses Fallujah in order to distract and deflect the attention of the Iraqi forces in order to threaten the very security of Baghdad.

That happened over and over again and it is high time that the Iraqi forces tackle head on the presence of the ISIS group despite the red lines and despite the veto from the American administration and we must not forget that Joe Biden personally, [and] McCain have tried their absolute best by exerting enormous pressure on the prime minister in order to prevent any attack against Fallujah which has been the major red line of Saudi Arabia which wants only forces that are formed by the Americans, that is what they call the National Guard which is simply a Takfiri group in order to hold the ground in Fallujah to turn it into a Takfiri state that is an independent state in all but name they call it a federal state but it will have its own airports and its own national guard and it will be a major threat against the Syrian government, against Iraq and against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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