Troops of the Interior Ministry take part in a parade during a ceremony marking the Iraqi Police Day at Amiriyat al-Fallujah in Anbar province, January 9, 2016.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday announced the start of a military operation to retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS.

“We are beginning the operation to liberate Fallujah,” he said in a statement. “The Iraqi flag will be raised high over the land of Fallujah.”

The Joint Operations Command also issued a statement announcing the beginning of operations to take back Fallujah, an ISIS bastion which lies only 50 kilometers west of Baghdad and has been out of government control since January 2014.

On Sunday, Iraq’s military warned civilians still in Fallujah — estimated to number in the tens of thousands — to leave the city.

Related articles across the web

• 22 ISIS fighters killed in aerial bombing in eastern Fallujah
• Iraqi PM attends parliament as pro-Sadr protesters demand cabinet reshuffle vote
• Clashes and airstrikes kill 33 in Anbar province of Iraq
• Iraqi PM attends parliament as protesters demand cabinet reshuffle vote
• Iraqi sects' discord blunts U.S.-backed drive against ISIS
• Qatar Donates $10m Urgent Relief Aid to Iraq
• Deadly Car Bomb Hits Crowded Commercial Area In Baghdad
• US Aircraft Spotted Dropping Arms to ISIS in Iraq
• Thousands of protesters threaten to storm Iraq's parliament
• Kurds, Shiite militias clash in northern Iraq