Iraqi military forces, backed by U.S. air power and Sunni militias, are massing forces in preparation for a major assault on the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah, says Army Col. Steven Warren, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
The battle for Fallujah, a storied war zone for U.S. Marines who led the bloody fighting there against Iraqis in November and December 2004, is pitting elements of three Iraqi divisions and several thousand militia fighters against an estimated 500 to 600 Islamic State fighters who took over the city in January 2014.
The city, about 36 miles west of Baghdad, has been a stronghold for the Islamic State based on its history as a major redoubt for its predecessor group, al Qaeda in Iraq.
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