But on Tuesday it was clear that their advance had stalled in the face of stiff resistance from the Islamic State. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyAbout 3,700 people, mostly from the outlying areas of Falluja, have reached safety over the past week, the United Nations said. The battle for Falluja now unfolding is being fought by a jagged constellation of government security forces, Shiite militias and Sunni tribal fighters. The battle for Falluja has caught the public’s attention after a stretch of political turmoil that saw protesters storm Baghdad’s Green Zone and Parliament. Falluja has been closed to the world since the Islamic State captured it more than two years ago, as a steppingstone to its broader conquest of northern and western Iraq.

Source: New York Times May 31, 2016 18:45 UTC