The Red Crescent's Fallujah coordinator, Jotiar Nafaa, estimates that between 150 and 175 families are left in the city that once had a population of 300,000.
I read estimates of tens of thousands of stranded civilians. If the number remaining is only 175 families, and the civilian deaths are not in the tens of thousands, then something interesting happened. It might suggest that Fallujah's tribal leaders decided to abandon the insurgents to their fate, and instructed the tribes to leave. That would fit with hints that the insurgents were no longer welcome.
There will be books to read one day that may fill in this story. If the insurgents did become unwelcome, I wonder if it will be thought they went too far explicitly tormenting and murdering obviously harmless people. Perhaps there are disadvantages to humanizing one's victims.
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