20 June 2015

In Ramadi today, joint security forces supported by People’s Mobilization fighters along the city’s perimeter thwarted two attacks by ISIL gunmen: the first was in the Eastern Husayba area east of Ramadi, where fierce clashes enabled security forces to fend off the attack, while Iraqi air support struck a number of ISIL convoys, setting ablaxe a number of their vehicles; the second attack was in the southwestern sector of the city, where security forces also turned back the attackers after fierce clashes with the gunmen.

Meanwhile Iraqi gun ships attacked a number of ISIL positions in northeastern Ramadi. Security forces are still in a  state of readiness for the imminent military campaign to liberate Ramadi. There are reports that Iraqi gun ships have dropped flyers calling on the residents to evacuate the city in order to stay out of harm’s way during the campaign.

In Fallujah today, military operations are underway in the city’s southwestern sector; 3 suicide bombers attempted to blow themselves up at a barracks in the sector, but were thwarted by security forces; 8 gunmen were killed in the ensuing clashes.

Security forces are still fighting over the control of Garma’s town center.

A Fallujah General Hospital source has reported that 3 children were and 9 residents wounded by the ongoing indiscriminate bombardment exchanges between security forces controlling the city’s perimeter and the ISIL gunmen within the city.

In western Anbar, Haditha and Baghdadi Townships are relatively calm today; no clashes have been reported in either area.

The humanitarian situation is still unchanged, with hundreds or thousands of families still sheltering in refugee camps in Khalidiya, Habbaniya, Amiriyat Al-Fallujah, and at the Bzaybiz Bridge crossing. Food aid is only trickling in, while summer temperatures are exacerbating the suffering during these early days of Ramadan.