09 April 2015

In the continuing military operations in the Shjariya area east of Ramadi, security forces have secured all of those areas. The forces and the Anbar Council have confirmed that large numbers of ISIL gunmen have fled toward Hamidhiya, southwest of Shjariya.

Security forces have killed at least 23 gunmen, according to Anbar Operations sources.

Also today, Faleh al-Issawi, the Deputy Anbar Council leader, confirmed that Hezbollah units have taken part in the operations that liberated the Shjariya area. More volunteers are also expected to take part in the campaign to liberate Anbar from the ISIL gunmen.

Meanwhile the ‘Golden’ Division’s antiterrorist and rapid-deployment units have carried out a broad operation in the southern districts of Ramadi, specifically advancing to Hawz district.

Iraqi air support has also launched attacks all along the stretch between the southern and northwestern sectors of Ramadi, and security forces have also killed at least 11 gunmen, and at least 3 ISIL snipers were killed when the building they were using was targeted.

Meanwhile Sheikh Na’eem al-Gu’ud, an Anbar tribal elder, announced that ISIL have executed more than 300 al-Qaim residents, having accused them of cooperating with security forces and providing them with intelligence. They had been held in secret ISIL prisons in al-Qaim. The report has not yet been confirmed by either local or external Anbar government sources.

Military operations in Fallujah are continuing; the mobile communications network has been restored, after it had been shut down for more than 48 hours.

A General Hospital source has reported that 14 residents, including women and children, have been killed by the random bombardment exchanges during the past two days, and at least 24 have been wounded by the mortar exchanges between security forces around the city’s perimeter and the gunmen still holding the city.

In Garma, military operations are still underway; the town is fully surrounded amid reports suggesting that a security forces’ assault on the town is imminent.