Iraqi forces prepare offensive on ISIS-held Falluja, residents begin to flee
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BAGHDAD - Iraq's military said on Sunday it was preparing to launch an offensive to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Falluja and told residents to get ready to leave before fighting started.
Families who could not flee should raise white flags to mark their location in the city 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, the military's media unit said in a statement on state television.
Falluja, a long-time bastion of Sunni Muslim jihadists, was the first city to fall to Islamic State, in January 2014, six months before the group swept through large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
