Fallujah liberation important for Iraq, region: Pundit

Press TV has conducted an interview with Nabil Mikhail, a professor at the George Washington University from Washington, about the advance of Iraqi forces into Fallujah to liberate the city from the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How significant do you think taking Fallujah will be in the battle against Daesh in both Iraq and neighboring Syria?

Mikhail: Very significant, these are good news and important news and they will create a new strategic reality not just in Fallujah, the important city, but in the surrounding area and also it will have important regional implications. I mean a quick remark will be what is next? But let me just stop here and say slow down.

First of all, there are many actions by the field commanders supervised by the top field commander General [Shakir] Jawdat as you said. So, let us just focus on the actions on the field commanders. This is not a movie, this is a war going on. One thing that puzzles me is that why not the Russians, the Syrians, the Iraqis, everyone, none of them was able to capture ISIL (Daesh) fighters. Perhaps they did, but they never announce about it. So, I would expect there will be a lot of POW (prisoners of war) and that will shed light on the actions, the secrets of ISIL.

So, here we have a true information. I hope that the Iraqi army will keep, because it can help them liberate other parts of Iraq and prevent the occurrence of the Daesh or the ISIL phenomenon. So, as I said these are serious developments, they are military theater developments and I want also to know how will the movement by an army translate into a political action? This is the top question, I hope the government of Iraq is connecting and communicating well with the troops that are now victorious in Fallujah and hopefully that can lead to a good political military deliberation of the situation.

Press TV: There are also sympathizers for Daesh in Fallujah as well as thousands of civilians in city that are going to be used by Daesh as human shields in this campaign. How will that complicate the army’s campaign against them?

Mikhail: This is also a very important question, because everyone wants to save lives. I’m quite sure that General Jawdat and his assistants and lieutenants are working their best even exposing their lives to dangers. I’m talking about a field of military operations not an academic seminar. So, I believe that they should get some extra assistance in terms of some locals who can tip the police and the army about the location of Daesh, calls for surrender, the media also should play a big role in asking people to surrender, how to be protected, how the supply of food and medicine can be protected.

I think eventually you will have some sections that will be quarantined. And as I said, there is the option of surrendering and also there is the danger of any suicidal attack, but I do not think the suicide attacks could be numerous. There could be five, six maximum, because just the nature of the attack itself it cannot really go further radical than this. So, there will be casualties inevitably and regrettably, but I think the field commanders have to communicate well, have to get some air support, have to get some heavy fire but immune and secure the housing areas, the civilian population areas and I’m quite sure that in few days 90 percent of the operation will be successful. The challenge is the political capital that will be basically sprouting and going and created as a result of this successful military operation.

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