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US occupation forces prepare massive onslaught on Fallujah
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By
Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
October 31 (IslamOnline.net) - One day after the Association of Muslim
Scholars (AMS), Iraq’s highest Sunni religious authority, warned
that an onslaught on Fallujah would break loose the doors of hell,
interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said the standoff entered its
"final phase."
Reports
of the imminent offensive, the second on the west Baghdad city since
the fall of the country in the hands of the US-led occupation troops
forced many to flee Fallujah, leaving the city virtually deserted.
Life
has almost come to a standstill.
"The
city has become deserted," Khalaf Sobhi, for fled Fallujah and is
currently in Baghdad, told IslamOnline.net.
He
added that many districts in the city were completely destroyed
including the Golan neighborhood, where he used to live.
"The
Americans insist on bombarding the Golan area, though they have
demolished most of its houses and the majority of residents have
left," he said.
IOL
correspondent says that more than 70% of Fallujah’s 300,000
population have left during October.
On
Friday, October 29, a senior American military spokesman admitted that
the city’s population went down to between 50,000 and 60,000 people.
Mosques
of Fallujah have
been unusually deserted during the Muslim holy month this year as
people either fled the city or kept to their homes.
Other
residents who fled to Baghdad said the Americans were allowing people
to leave Fallujah, probably to have a free reign in the city.
The
US occupation forces have been encircling Fallujah since October 14
and are taking their positions around the city.
Fortifications
Iraqi
resistance fighters, however, vowed to stay their grounds and defend
their city against the invading troops.
They
are reinforcing their positions and stockpiling enough food and water
supplies, sources close to the resistance told IOL.
They
said the Fallujah resistance fighters are in high spirits and are
poised for die-hard battle with the US occupation forces.
The
city is now under the control of Fallujah Mujahdeen Shura Council, an
umbrella of resistance groups, added the sources.
In
a statement dated October 15, the council called on all Iraqi
resistance groups to cut off supplies from the US forces if they storm
Fallujah.
The
city has been coming under repeated US attacks under claims of
harboring anti-US foreign fighters.
In
April, at least 700 Iraqis, mostly
women and children , were killed and 1,500 others injured in
Fallujah when the US occupation forces imposed a tight siege on the
town and intensified air strikes on its densely-populated areas.
On
September 18, Amnesty International blasted the US for its barbaric
on Fallujah.
Final
Phase
In
a related development, Allawi said the Fallujah standoff has entered
its "final phase," warning of imminent military action.
"We
have entered the final phase to solve the Fallujah problem," he
Allawi.
"If
we cannot solve it peacefully, I have no choice but to take military
action. I will do so with a heavy heart."
Allawi
claimed that "terrorists have taken the people of Fallujah
hostage and we are determined to eliminate this terror centre."
He
laid out three conditions that would spare Fallujah and other cities
military action.
These
include the exit of foreign and Iraqi fighters, the handover of heavy-
and medium-sized weapons and allowing the government to begin the
process of reconstruction in these cities.
"The
people of Fallujah can handover the foreign fighters and insurgents,
kick them out or allow Iraqi forces to go in and do the job,"
said Allawi in a grave tone.
Negotiations
between the US-backed interim government and delegates from the town
collapsed in mid-October after Allawi threatened the city with
invasion if it did not surrender Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab
Al-Zarqawi.
The
Fallujah people have repeatedly maintained that they did
not harbor the wanted man.
Stiff
Warning
The
Association of Muslim Scholars said Saturday, October 30, the
negotiations were just an attempt to buy more time for the US forces
to prepare a new massive attack on the city.
"The
Americans will invade Fallujah and negotiations were a mere US plan to
win more time to complete military preparations," said ASM
spokesman Mohammed Bashar Al-Faydhi.
He
accused members of the Iraqi government of " intentionally or
unintentionally helping the Americans realize this goal."
The
ASM spokesm warned that an American onslaught on the city would incite
tension in the war-torn country and break loose the doors of hell.
"Attacking
Fallujah would trigger a crisis in the city. The government should
realize that such attacks would not stop terrorism as they
claim."
He
stressed that the US attacks on Samarra and Tel Afar had not stopped
the unabated resistance against the US occupation forces.
Hundreds
of Iraqi civilians
have been killed and injured when a massive force of 3,000 American
troops and 2,000 Iraqi National guardsmen stormed Samarra on September
30, allegedly to regain control before the general elections,
scheduled for January.
The
Fallujah Muslim scholars threatened on Friday, October 15, to declare
Jihad across Iraq if the US occupation forces stormed the city.
