4 May 2014

Probably the most significant development has been the announcement by the Deputy leader of the Anbar Governorate Council, Saleh Al-Issawi, that the Security Committee, the armed forces, and the police have reclaimed total control of the Al-Saqlawiya township near Fallujah. Al-Issawi added that an emergency forces regiment has been formed and entrusted with the protection of civilians in the township. He expects that security forces will be able to regain control of the areas around Fallujah within the next few days.

Regarding the security situation within Fallujah, a General Hospital medical source announced today that at least 5 people have been killed and 17 have been wounded as a result of the shelling of a number of residential districts that began Saturday evening and continued into this afternoon.

Meanwhile Al-Garma, northeast of Fallujah, has been the scene of shelling and violent clashes since the early hours of this morning in a number of districts and at two vital bridges.

In Ramadi, clashes have resumed in the city's southern sector and its residential districts, albeit at a level somewhat lower than it has been over recent weeks.

The other important aspect is the flooding that has swept into the eastern regions of the governorate, especially in Fallujah and Abu Ghraib. Officials have said that gunmen are still controlling the Fallujah barrage, and that they are opening and closing the sluice gates at will. Reports indicate that at least 60 schools and three electric power stations have been flooded, as well as the gas processing plant, the grain elevator, and at least two other factories in Abu Ghraib.

All of the Anbar ballot boxes are now in Baghdad after having been collected from all the governorate's regions at the Ayn Al-Asad military base, and then transported to the Baghdad International Fair ground where they are under observation by representatives of the various political blocs. Sorting and counting of the ballots is still underway and no official preliminary results have been announced. Some of the political parties have announced some extrapolated results but these are not official.