Iraqi troops backed by mainly Shi'ite Muslim militias launched military operations on Monday to recapture the country's largest province, Anbar, from Islamic State militants, a military said. Sources in the Anbar operations command said Iraqi forces faced fierce resistance from the insurgents, who deployed five suicide car bombs and fired rockets to repel their advance on the city of Falluja. The announcement of the offensive comes two months after the militants seized Anbar's capital Ramadi, extending their control over the Sunni province west of Baghdad and casting doubt on the strategy of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. "At 5 o'clock this morning operations to liberate Anbar were launched," said a joint military command statement read out on state television. It said the offensive was being carried out by the army, mainly Shi'ite militia known as Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) units, special forces, police and Sunni Muslim tribal fighters. The Iraqi government has previously announced the start of operations to retake Anbar. Having initially said it would prioritize Ramadi, it now appears to have turned instead to Falluja, which is located further downriver and closer to Baghdad -- around 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital. Falluja was the first city in Iraq to fall under militant control last year, months before Islamic State overran the northern city of Mosul and proclaimed a caliphate straddling the border with Syria. Hadi al-Ameri, commander of the largest Shi'ite force, the Badr Organisation, told Iraqi television on Sunday he expected the main assault on Falluja to take place after the Eid holiday at the end of Ramadan, later this week. Residents in Falluja and Ramadi reported heavy bombardment of both cities early on Monday. Falluja saw the fiercest fighting of the U.S. occupation which followed Washington's 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and has also been a center of Sunni hostility to the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi initially sought to keep Shi'ite militia on the sidelines in Anbar for fear of inflaming sectarian sensitivities, but the fall of Ramadi in May undermined his position.
