14 October 2014

In Hit which was occupied by a large group of ISIL gunmen, and following the fierce clashes yesterday that killed at least 7 residents, the Hit military camp and its large quantities of weaponry and munitions has been completely taken over by the gunmen.

The head of the local municipality in Baghdad announced today that the town is completely surrounded and that the armed groups have cut off all supplies of food and fuel destined to various parts of the township.

In Fallujah, clashes and bombardment of a number of the city's districts have killed 3 civilians and wounded 3 others.

In Garma, there have been intermittent clashes in several areas along the river that separates the town from Salahuddin Province. The area has also been targeted by airstrikes.

In Ramadi, the gunmen who seized control yesterday of the Shurta district have today extended their control over a number of neighboring districts in the western and southern sectors of the city.

The Anbar Council has today renewed its call for the replacement of the Anbar Operations commander Lt.-Gen. Rasheed Flayeh whom the Council is partially blaming for the surprising withdrawals from some areas, thus allowing the gunmen to take them over. However, reports reaching Anbar are indicating that the commander will stay on.

Meanwhile, tomorrow there will be a vote on the appointment of Kadhum Al-Fahdawi as the new Anbar Police commander following the assassination two days ago of the late commander, Gen. Ahmed Al-Dulaimi.

07 August 2014

The Anbar Provincial Council has issued two press statements. In the first, all council members threatened to submit their collective resignation if the government did not stop the random shelling and aerial bombardment of residential areas in Ramadi, Fallujah, Al-Garma, and other cities. 

In the other statement, some council members announced that they had been working on the establishment of armed units that will be subordinated to the Anbar Provincial Council and coordinated with Anbar police and military authorities, respectively. Members of these armed units will be recruited from the ranks of former Iraqi Army officers. The idea is now being discussed in the lobbies of the Anbar Provincial Council in order to receive the necessary authorization from Baghdad and launch the project.  

In Fallujah, 3 people were killed and 7 wounded in the aerial bombardment of the residential areas of Askari, Nazzal, Shurta, Wahda, Kamaliyat, and Sharia Arbaan ("Street 40"). The total figures show that over 600 local civilians have been killed and 1,422 wounded by bombardment since the beginning of military operations in late December 2013.  
In Al-Garma, 2 people were killed and 3 wounded in the aerial bombardment that continued from late last night till this afternoon. 

In Haditha, a security source has announced that Iraq's security forces have managed to retake control over the town of Barwana, which is situated west of the city of Haditha on the Tigris River. 

There has been some information on heavy overnight clashes between security forces and armed groups, with the latter trying to enter Haditha, but a strong response from the security forces and pro-government "Awakening" militias based in Haditha stopped them.  

In Al-Qaim, aerial bombardment and/or shelling of southern sectors of this border city wounded 4 people. 

04 June 2014

Since the early hours of this morning, funeral processions have been underway for the 9 people who were killed in last night's explosions, among them Sheikh Muhammad Abu Risha, the leader of the Ramadi Awakenings (Sahwat).

After the blowing up and collapse of the Al-Ma'moun and 'Japanese' bridges, the Directorate-General of Bridge in Anbar announced that at least 30 of the 80 bridges in Anbar have now been blown up, and that repairs will take more than year and cost more than 5 billion Dinars.

Meanwhile, living conditions in Fallujah are still very difficult as a result of the military operations that have intensified over the past two days. Initial casualty figures today show that at least 20 people have been killed and at least 40 others have been wounded in the continuing indiscriminate shelling of the city's residential districts. The chief resident at the Fallujah General Hospital has stated that this is the 19th time that his facility has been hit by mortar fire. Five medical personnel were killed in the latest attack.

In Ramadi, families have been returning to their homes in the central Al-Jumhouri and Al-Shurta districts where the situation has been calm recently.

This is in contrast to the situation in Fallujah, where we have observed the departure of at least 100 families from the city's southern sector and from Al-Nu'aimiya, also to the south.