"We will tear down the black flags of foreigners who have hijacked the city," Abadi said in a midnight televised speech in which he appeared surrounded by army chiefs. He spoke in reference to the Islamic State flags, waving on Fallujah dese more than two years ago.
When it was day there was no indication that the Iraqi army had entered the city; Yes he appreciated that mortars and other artillery against the city but were thrown from a distance.
Abadi and other leaders have made similar announcements in the past regarding military offensives then have stalled on the ground.
Any land battle to liberate the city, often known as the City of Mosques and has always been a stronghold of Sunni extremism He believes that is where he was born prior to the Islamic State organization, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia it will be long and bloody.
The US Army, the Marines in the lead, fought twice in the city in 2004 and that battle every house has been one of the strongest that has occurred since the Vietnam War.
Islamic State fighters have control of the city from the beginning of 2014. It is believed that their networks are embedded in place and that will remain to do battle, contrary to what happened in cities like Tikrit and Ramadi, which were abandoned to tighten the siege of the Iraqi army on them.
Perhaps because of the experience and the difficulties the US military had in Fallujah that US authorities have asked the Iraqis to avoid the attempt to retake the city.
What they have done, as an alternative plan, it is to pressure the Iraqis to focus on other goals such as Mosul, one of the largest cities in the country, which has been under control of the Islamic State since June 2014. With support of the campaign bombing of the international coalition led by the US, Iraqi forces have made progress this year and have liberated territory controlled by the EI as Ramadi, capital of Anbar province and other towns in the Euphrates valley.
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Iraqi army soldiers were preparing to advance on Fallujah on May 23, 2016 in a long and bloody battle is expected. Credit Ahmad Al-Rubaye / Agence France-Presse - Getty Images
But the cost has been high destruction and military victories do not bring reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Arabs who would envision peace for the country.
For Iraqis, the opportunity to launch an offensive on Fallujah gained momentum last week after a series of attacks in Baghdad EI killed nearly 200 people. By putting its focus on Fallujah, which is about 60 kilometers from the capital, the government and militia leaders may claim they are protecting Baghdad and seeking revenge.
"The time to liberate a city in the land of Iraq has come," the military said in a statement. "The earth will never accept humiliation because its people have made the decision to end the darkness of terrorist and criminal gangs of the Islamic State".
The announcement by Abadi happened shortly after authorities asked civilians to leave the city and promised them that the road would be safe.
Militias and army units around the city for months on a site that has caused hunger and lack of medicine in Fallujah.
Tens of thousands of civilians are in town and could not leave even if they wanted. The Islamic State will skyrocket to try and human rights activists have reported that the militia stationed around the city have already rejected the passage of civilians in the past.
The city fell to the Islamic State two and a half years after the Iraqi army attacked a camp where groups of Sunnis was a year protesting against Prime Minister at the time, Nuri al-Maliki, whom the US accused of promoting policies sectarian that allowed the rise of radical groups like the Islamic State.
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