18 March 2015

Security forces have reported that dozens of ISIL gunmen were killed and that the road between Al-Sheeha Bridge in Garma and the 'Japanese' Bridge in eastern Ramadi has been liberated. The forces have also disarmed a number of booby-trapped vehicles and explosive devices. Iraqi aircraft are continuing their attacks on Garma and its surrounding areas.

In Ramadi, during the night and into the early hours of this morning numerous coalition warplanes have carried out sorties on the areas of the city's southern sector that are still under ISIL control, relying on a major intelligence gathering effort by security, police, and military intelligence units. Security forces are reporting that so far at least 120 have been killed in the strikes that have set back the gunmen's capabilities and activity in the area.

In Haditha, the leader of the Anbar Provincial Council, Sabah Karhout, announced today that 10 Haditha civilians have died of hunger; he holds the Trade Ministry responsible for the deaths because no relief aid has reached the town even after the liberation of the highway from Baghdadi and the Ayn al-Asad Base that is the destination of aid supplies. Meanwhile, the southwestern areas of Haditha are still under ISIL control.

In Baghdadi, fighting has been raging in the town's southwestern sector where ISIL gunmen are attempting to regain the ground they have recently lost in the areas across the river from the town.

In Fallujah, a general hospital source has reported that 2 residents have been killed and 11 wounded by the ongoing random bombardment exchanges between security forces on the city's perimeter and the gunmen holding the city.

In Amiriyat al-Fallujah, ISIL gunmen attempted yesterday an assault on the township's southwestern sector but fierce resistance by security forces thwarted the attack.