23 June 2014

Since the early hours of this morning, there have been intermittent clashes on the outskirts of Fallujah along the main highway, as well as in the outskirts of Al-Garma. The casualty count since last night and up to noontime today shows that 4 residents, including 2 women and a child, have been killed and 7 others have been wounded as a result of the shelling of a number of the city's residential districts, including Al-Nu'aimiya in the southern sector and Al-Sichir in the northeast.

In the western Anbar regions, the gunmen have now increased their strength and the extent of the areas they control, that now include large parts of Ana, Rawa, and Al-Qa'im. They are now moving to the east toward Haditha and there is speculation about their intention to seize that township within the next few hours or days.

Security and army sources have declared that the recent withdrawals of their forces are 'tactical', probably to allow their re-supply and re-grouping. On the ground, however, most of the comments relate to recent burglaries and to insurgents' total control of the areas they have attacked.

In Ramadi, there are some families returning to the city's central and northern districts that have been relatively calm during the last two days. Cell-phone service has been restored but some Internet providers have been resorting to satellite relays; government Internet providers are still not functioning in Anbar, nor in a number of other governorates.