01 June 2014

Public has been shocked by the killing of a female student in Ramadi University’s Faculty of Agriculture, in downtown Ramadi, when a stray bullet broke the window of a hall during final examinations and hit her in the neck. A male student has been injured in the shooting. It is believed the stray shots came from the Iraqi military that was operating in the area.

Relatively fierce clashes have continued in the southern parts of Ramadi city, especially in the Bakr and Hawz neighborhoods, in addition to parts of the area known as “Street 20” (Shari’ Ishrin) and the Mal’ab neighborhood.

Previously displaced due to the armed conflict, some families are now moving back to the relatively calmer neighborhoods of Jumhuri and Mu’allimin, in addition to the areas known as “Post Office Street” (Shari’ al-Barid) and “Depot Street” (Shari’ al-Mustawda’).

In Fallujah, fierce clashes continue in the area known as Hayakil, which is a compound of unfinished buildings in the property of Fallujah University. Iraqi forces has continued with intense air strikes and artillery shelling throughout the city. The toll has been 7 dead and 13 injured.

Some of the internally displaced people who have sought refuge in Hit city have demonstrated today for a solution to the Anbar crisis that has entered the sixth month. Situated in the calmer western parts of Anbar province, Hit city now accommodates some 70 thousand refugees, mainly from Fallujah city and its surroundings.

8 May 2014

In Fallujah late last night, incursions into the city were attempted on two fronts: one from the Al-Sichir area, and the other from Fallahat to the west of the city. The assaults were confronted by fierce resistance by the gunmen. There was also indiscriminate shelling lasting many hours targeted at a number of residential districts. Initial estimates indicate that 7 people were killed and 17 others were wounded in the shelling.

In Al-Garma northeast of Fallujah there were extremely violent clashes and a long period of random shelling on a number of the town's districts.

In Ramadi, a number of residential districts have been relatively calm, but clashes broke out late last night in the Al-Jumhuri district and the districts along Al-Mustawda'a Street; 4 people were killed and 5 were wounded, mostly civilians, during the clashes.

With regard to the flooding, the Anbar Governorate Council leader, Sabah Karhout, announced that a number of small dams and barrages have been re-opened and this has resulted in lowering the Euphrates water levels and the restoration of quasi-normal conditions in the areas that had been under water.

Regarding the elections, the various political entities have been calling for the conclusion of vote counting within the official time-frame, particularly in the case of the Anbar ballot boxes that were - for the first time - not counted in Anbar but were removed to Baghdad. There is concern about the absence of transparency and about the delay's possible resulting in forgery and vote-rigging. However, everyone is awaiting the announcement of the results within the next few days, so that the governorate can go ahead with changing its political map, if new faces emerge on the scene.