16 May 2014

In Fallujah, military operations and fierce fighting are still ongoing in various parts of the city. Most of these districts are also being shelled. Casualties have been limited to 8 civilians injured. According to local government sources, these lower numbers are probably due to the fact that only about 10% of the city's residents are still within the city, while the other 90% have been displaced elsewhere in the governorate's western regions. More than 500 school buildings have been opened to provide shelter for these migrants from Ramadi and Fallujah. Security forces have been in action in a number of areas that lie outside the city limits, but they have as yet been unable to penetrate into the city itself. Government forces are adopting a strategy of launching air and artillery attacks on areas occupied by gunmen concentrations. The aim is to weaken the groups of gunmen to an extent that would then allow them to enter the city. With all access routes into and out of the city being closed, government forces are basically waiting for the gunmen to run out of weapons and ammunition.

In Ramadi, the situation is markedly quieter than in Fallujah, but clashes are still intermittently erupting, particularly in the city's southern sector. Many are expecting that the conference proposed by the Anbar Governorate Council, that may be convened next week in Baghdad and attended by government and political leaders from all over the country, might result in resolving the situation in Anbar.

The number of migrants is increasing from the areas in and around Abu Ghraib as a result of the continuously rising flood levels of the Euphrates River; gunmen are still controlling the Fallujah barrage.