25 January 2015

An Anbar Operations source has announced today that coalition warplanes have targeted an ISIL convoy on the Iraqi-Syrian border, killing 6 gunmen, including a member of the ISIL leadership.

Coalition warplanes have also launched strikes on Ramadi's perimeter, killing 23 ISIL gunmen.

Clashes resumed today in the Khasfa area that lies between Haditha and Ana. Clashes involving 4 ISIL snipers have resulted in the killing of an officer of the 7th Division.

Military operations on the perimeter around Haditha, specifically across the Euphrates from the town have totally secured the area between Alous and Haditha.

Military operations are also continuing, aimed at liberating the Shjariyah area northeast of Ramadi. The Anbar Police commander announced today that 95% of the area is now secure, with some snipers still in position on a number of rooftops. The road linking the area with Ramadi city has also been secured.

In Ramadi, ISIL gunmen attempted to penetrate into the city from the southern Hawz district; however security forces and the intervention of coalition warplanes have turned back the attack. A number of buildings in the Anbar University complex have also come under fire today; at least 50 ISIL gunmen in what has become their Ramadi headquarters were killed.

In Fallujah, a General Hospital source has announced today that 2 residents have been killed and 11 wounded in the resumption of the daily indiscriminate bombardment exchanges. 

Clashes have also resumed in the areas in and around Garma, particularly in the town's industrial zone. Coalition warplanes and Iraqi air support have launched a number of strikes against ISIL positions there, killing a number of the gunmen.

A conference in Anbar including tribal elders, religious scholars, and local government members has stressed the need for a popular mobilization of Anbar citizens, to be supplied by the central government with arms, ammunition, and training, in order to carry on the fight against the ISIL gunmen in the province.  

22 January 2015

It was announced today that Abu Anas Al-Samarra'ee, the ISIL commander in western Anbar, was killed in a coalition airstrike on an ISIL convoy making its way from Syrian territory toward Anbar Province in Akashat. A number of his bodyguards were also killed and at least 8 vehicles destroyed by the strikes.

An Anbar Operations security source has announced that fierce clashes have resulted in the liberation of the Khashba area between Haditha and Ana townships, and that at least 23 ISIL gunmen were killed in the fighting.

The Bu-Ghanim tribe in northeastern Anbar has warned the central and local governments and threatened that it will withdraw from the fight against ISIL unless its fighters are supplied with arms and ammunition within five hours. This follows the capture by ISIL gunmen of large areas in the region who killed at least 23 local police personnel and tribal fighters.

Also today, coalition warplanes targeted an ISIL military convoy in the Sihil area northeast of Baghdadi. The convoy was on its way to the town of Alous that was liberated yesterday by security forces, and at least 53 of the gunmen were killed and all of the convoy's vehicles, including a booby-trapped fuel tanker that was to be detonated in the attack on Alous, were destroyed.

In Ramadi, Anbar security sources have stated that the situation in Ramadi is at its most dangerous it has been for more than a year and that ISIL forces are threatening to overrun the city, unless the Defense Ministry and the central and local governments intervene by supplying the Province's forces with the arms and ammunition they need to continue the fight against ISIL. The city has sustained more than one attack during the past two days aimed at seizing the provincial capital.

In Fallujah, the general hospital has reported that 4 residents have been killed and 11 wounded in the ongoing indiscriminate bombardment exchanges between security forces controlling the city's perimeter and the ISIL gunmen holding the city.

Security forces have turned back an ISIL attack on Garma, while coalition warplanes have killed at least 33 gunmen in the town and its surrounding areas.

15 January 2015

Security forces supported by tribal fighters have today succeeded in surrounding the western town of Rutba. There are reports that an assault on the town is imminent, supported according to Anbar Operations sources, by U.S. military advisers.

Also today, an Operations source confirmed that coalition warplanes targeted an ISIL convoy on its way from Al-Qaim on the Iraqi - Syrian border towards Haditha/Baghdadi. The entire convoy was destroyed and dozens of ISIL gunmen were killed.

In Haditha, the local Council leader, Abdul-Hakeem Al-Jughaifi, announced today the launching of a military operation to liberate the Alous an Bu-Hayat areas, between Baghdadi and Haditha.

In southwestern Baghdadi today, fierce clashes have been underway in those area across the Euphrates from Baghdadi town. There have been no statements yet about the outcome of the fighting. Yesterday, the SWAT commander in Baghdadi, Sha'aban Al-Obaidi, stated that security forces have liberated all the areas around Jubba village on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdadi.

In Fallujah, the General Hospital reported today that 4 residents have been killed and 17 wounded by the ongoing mortar-fire exchanges.

Clashes have also resumed today in Garma, where security forces have killed at least 17 ISIL gunmen following their takeover of the town's industrial zone, along the boundary between Anbar and Salahuddin Provinces.

Military operations are continuing in Amiriyat Al-Fallujah. A number of ISIL-launched mortar rounds have struck the town, injuring 11 civilians, mostly women and children.

In Ramadi, the city has been relatively calm today, but some minor clashes have been reported in the city's southern and western sectors.

More than 300 explosive devices have been disarmed today along the Shujariya area's roads and in a number of the areas houses.

31 December 2014

In Haditha, where ISIL gunmen have for days been trying to capture the Haditha Dam, the Alous area was once again completely liberated today.

In Baghdadi, the humanitarian situation is critical with the continuing ISIL blockade that has not allowed any food or fuel supplies from reaching the town resulting in a huge rise in the prices of practically everything.

In Ramadi, parts of the Shjariya area of northeastern Ramadi are still being held by the gunmen. Very fierce clashes have been going on there since yesterday evening.

Ramadi city is still relatively calm, especially since the security forces deployed concrete barriers around the ISIL-controlled parts of the city.

In Fallujah, fierce battles have been ongoing in Garma, northeast of the city. Security sources are reporting that at least 55 gunmen have been killed in the fighting which is still in progress at this time. In Fallujah city, bombardment exchanges are continuing; 3 residents have been killed and 7 have been wounded in the residential districts.

Staff General Nawwal Al-Zoba'ee has today been appointed commander of the 5th Division, replacing Staff General Qassem Al-Dulaimi who has been transferred to Anbar Operations.

30 December 2014

In Haditha, ISIL has launched its fifth consecutive attempt to penetrate into the town, but once again the fierce resistance by security forces has turned back the gunmen. In a phone contact the township's municipal leader has confirmed that security forces and tribal forces have thwarted the three-pronged attack: firstly, from the south across the river; the second, from the western areas of Haqlaniya and Birwana; in the third, clashes took place close to the Haditha Dam which ISIL gunmen have been trying to capture for five days, but coalition warplanes intervened, killing 33 of the gunmen, according to Anbar Operations sources.

The gunmen were able to seize partial control of the village of Alous, about 30 km from Haditha.

In Baghdadi, ISIL forces have cut all the bridges linking the eastern and western sectors of the town, after having seized 14 villages on the town's outskirts. Security sources have reported that coalition airstrikes have struck ISIL targets in the area.

In Fallujah, a medical source has confirmed that, between yesterday and this afternoon, 9 residents have been killed and 18 others wounded by random mortar fire during the continuing bombardment exchanges between the gunmen inside the city and security forces surrounding it. The mortar fire struck many of the city's residential districts, leaving women and children among the casualties. As 2014 draws to a close, there have been more than 5,000 casualties, killed or injured by the continuous bombardments in Fallujah.

In Ramadi, the city's residential districts have been relatively calm. In the rural areas around the city, security forces say that they have re-taken control of about 80% of those areas.

27 August 2014

An armed assault and military operations took place today in the town of Al-Hamidhiya, northeast of Ramadi, with air raids targeting specific targets in the town which security forces have promised to liberate.

In Fallujah, military operations today and air strikes on many of the city's residential districts have left 34 people killed or wounded.

In Al-Garma, 5 residents have been killed and 17 wounded by various forms of bombardment, with the town still under the control of the armed groups.

In Haditha, fierce clashes in the northeastern sector of the town during the gunmen's fifth or sixth attempt to penetrate into the town. However, the resistance by the town's defending forces has prevented the gunmen from attaining their goal. Four tribal fighters were killed.

Military aircraft have carried out strikes along the highway between the town of Ana and the Alous township, in the areas still held by the gunmen.

In Hit and Al-Baghdadi, tensions are high after the gunmen distributed leaflets calling on security personnel and the areas residents to refrain from opposing or fighting the armed groups.

13 July 2014

In Ramadi, intermittent clashes have been going on, particularly in the city's western sector and also in the central, formerly secure, central districts that have now become quasi-military areas with the renewal of fighting around the 8th Brigade HQ and the gunmen's attempts at taking the position, but they have been confronted by fierce response by the army units holding it. The situation there has not yet been resolved. Yesterday the HQ's surroundings were subjected to shelling. There were also clashes in the northern and northwestern area along the Euphrates between the armed groups and army forces that are trying to regain control. However, there have been renewed attempts by the gunmen to make advances into the areas being held by the local authorities in Anbar.

With regard to the gunmen's attempts to seize Haditha, the gunmen launched an attack on the Sakran checkpoint in western Haditha, with a second attack on the Alous area in northeastern Haditha. Meanwhile Haditha is still totally surrounded by the armed groups, but reports indicate the arrival of new supplies to the army units at Haditha Dam.

In Fallujah, yesterday's casualty count stands at 4 dead and 7 others, mostly women and children, wounded by the shelling that has targeted numerous residential districts in the city.

In Al-Garma, eyewitnesses are describing the use of explosives-packed barrels/drums in bombarding the township, resulting in 10 casualties including 4 women and 2 children. Meanwhile, stringent security measures are in place in the areas around Fallujah and Al-Garma, including air reconnaissance missions.

26 June 2014

The most significant development in Ramadi today has been the penetration of the gunmen toward the Anbar Operations Command in western Ramadi. The gunmen have now surrounded the Command and are about 1.5 kilometers away, having seized the Al-Shaheed police station in Al-Ta'ameem District. They are now on their way to capturing the most important military site in Anbar Governorate.

Meanwhile, army forces have opened five sluice gates at the Haditha Dam in western Anbar. The resulting rise in water levels has breached the Alous pontoon bridge, and has flooded a large number of residential homes along the banks of the Euphrates River. There is growing concern over the likelihood of of a major clash between the gunmen surrounding Haditha and the joint Awakenings and security forces that are still holding the Haditha Dam.

Syrian regime military aircraft have today attacked areas along the border in the boundary region between Nineveh and Anbar governorates.

In Fallujah, a medical source has announced that 3 citizens have been killed and 2 others wounded in the fierce clashes in the Al-Hayakil district of southern Fallujah and in the renewed shelling of the central and northern districts of the city.

There are also reports that the head of the Anbar Council's security Committee, Ahmed Hameed Sharqi has disappeared along with his family. This is in line with the departure of Anbar officials to Kurdistan or out of Iraq, fearing the imminent exacerbation of the situation in Anbar. The situation here is indeed frightening following the gunmen's successes in the rapid capture of the governorate's vital locations and facilities.