Grim test for Iraq as Islamic State fighters dig in for battle of Fallujah

By Paul McGeough
Updated May 27 2016 - 1:13pm, first published 11:14am
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, seated in black, meets officers at the Fallujah Operation command centre on Monday. Also seated in a beige baseball cap is Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Iranian-funded Shiite militia known as the Badr Organisation. Photo: Iraqi PM's Office via AP
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, seated in black, meets officers at the Fallujah Operation command centre on Monday. Also seated in a beige baseball cap is Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Iranian-funded Shiite militia known as the Badr Organisation. Photo: Iraqi PM's Office via AP

The new normal in Baghdad means that strange things happen – like the Iraqi government's latest bid to wrest control of the besieged city of Fallujah from the so-called Islamic State.