04 November 2014

In Hit and its surrounding areas, sources at the Anbar Operations Command and the Anbar Police Command announced today that the next phase will start with a broad operation in Hit township under the name 'Revenge for the Bu-Nimr Tribe'.

Also today, Iraqi aircraft launched bombardment attacks on some parts of Hit across the Euphrates River, concentrating their strikes on positions held by ISIL gunmen.

The sources also confirmed that over 5,000 volunteers are now at the ready to join the Ahmed Saddam Al-Dulaimi Brigade. They will take part in the next few days in active operations within Anbar Province. The forces are expected to be armed with sophisticated weapons under Iraqi-American supervision, as the U.S. advisers are present in Anbar.

In Al-Qaim that has been calm for more than a month, shells from an unknown source have hit a public marketplace in the town, killing or wounding more than 40 people. Medical sources have confirmed that at least 7 civilians were killed and at least 33 wounded.

In Fallujah, mortar fire exchanges between security forces positioned on the city's periphery and ISIL gunmen controlling the city itself, have resulted in at least 11 residents being wounded, according to the city's General Hospital. Meanwhile one of the hospital's doctors was killed by sniper fire as he was leaving his home in the northeastern sector of Khalidiya.

Living conditions and the humanitarian situation in Anbar Province: Baghdadi is completely surrounded and blockaded, with ISIL gunmen preventing any food or fuel from reaching the town, and they either whip or kill anyone trying to bring in any food supplies. This has driven most of the residents to abandon their homes and look for shelter and food elsewhere.

In Ramadi, military operations are ongoing in the rural areas across the river from the city; security forces are confirming that they have taken control of large parts of those areas, but witnesses are reporting that explosions and heavy gunfire exchanges can be heard from those areas.