Fallujah retaken

The commander of Iraqi forces that retook Fallujah from the Islamic State group said yesterday the operation had been carried out with limited damage to the city.

"The percentage of destruction in Fallujah is no more than 10 percent and is spread across all neighbourhoods of the city," Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi told AFP.

Saadi and other commanders yesterday announced that Fallujah had been brought under full control of the security forces after they retook IS's last positions in the Jolan neighbourhood.

The recapture of Fallujah, bar a few remaining pockets of IS fighters, brings to a close a broad offensive launched more than a month ago on one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions.

"This battle was the cleanest urban battle in the whole of Iraq," Saadi told Iraqiya state television.

The US-led coalition offered some aerial assistance during the Fallujah operation but was less involved than six months ago during the offensive to retake Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in which Fallujah is also located.

Meanwhile, at least 82 people including 58 civilians were killed in Russian and regime air strikes on an Islamic State group-held area of eastern Syria yesterday.

"Three Russian and Syrian regime air raids on the region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of Deir Ezzor city, killed 58 civilians," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It added that 24 other people were killed, without specifying whether they were civilians or IS fighters. The Britain-based Observatory initially reported that 47 people including 31 civilians died in the raids around Al-Quriyah.

Russian warplanes have been carrying out an air war in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS holds around 60 percent of Deir Ezzor city, the capital of the province of the same name, which is next to the jihadist-held Raqa province.