Forces soldiers recaptured a Fallujah city municipal building from Islamic State fighters Friday after a nearly month-long battle to reach the city’s core.

Once a stronghold for IS militants, Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, have been able to push IS out of the city center, marking a symbolic victory for the coalition forces, Iraq’s federal police chief said.

“The liberation of the government compound, which is the main landmark in the city, symbolizes the restoration of the state’s authority” in Fallujah, he said.

IS captured Fallujah in 2014, but after heavy fighting over the past month, Iraqi forces have been able to retake nearly half of the city. In this latest offensive, troops entered the city around 6 a.m. and were met by very little resistance from the IS militants.

“There is a mass flight of Daesh (IS) to the west that explains this lack of resistance. There are only pockets of them left and we are hunting them down,” Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi said.

According to security officials, many IS members fled the city this week in the run-up to the offensive by posing as civilians fleeing the conflict.
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