12 November 2014

The central and southern districts of Ramadi have today experienced the most violent clashes following a recent period of relative calm, between groups of ISIL gunmen and security forces supported by tribal fighters. The clashes escalated at dawn this morning and have been continuing into this evening. The result has been that the gunmen have retreated deep into the southern districts. This might be the beginning of the military campaign aimed at liberating all of the ISIL-held districts of the city.

Fierce clashes have also taken place in the northern rural areas of the city, involving Iraqi airstrikes. A source at the Anbar Operations Command has announced the formation of fighting units composed of 3,000 men belonging to a number of Anbar tribes, following the completion of their training at the Ayn Al-Asad Base in Baghdadi. These forces will support the security forces charged with liberating and re-taking Hit township from the ISIL gunmen.

In Fallujah, at least 7 residents have been reported injured in the exchanges of bombardment between the security forces on the city's perimeter and the ISIL gunmen controlling the inner city.

Humanitarian support and relief aid is still very weak: the Fallujah General Hospital has announced severe medical shortages, while the blockaded townships of Haditha and Baghdadi are being deprived by ISIL of any kind of food or fuel supplies. There is an airlift operating between Baghdad and Baghdadi, but the supplies it is providing fall far short of the requirements that have increased with the increased number of displaced families.

The mentioned military activity comes in the wake of the visit by the Parliament's Speaker, Saleem Al-Juburi, to Ayn Al-Asad and to the Provincial Seat where he held a number of emergency meetings that resulted in the approval of arming the tribes and providing the security forces with the weapons and munitions required by the broad campaign that could recapture the areas and townships that have been seized by ISIL.

11 October 2014

ISIL elements today attacked Amiriyat Al-Fallujah, 35 km south of Fallujah City, but the security forces there along with local tribal forces repelled the attack that was launched on 3 fronts. Fierce clashes erupted and some of the gunmen's positions were bombarded; we don't yet have any casualty reports.

In Hit, to the west, there were intermittent clashes in a number of the town's districts. Coalition warplanes are still targeting some of the gunmen's  positions south of the town. There are also troop movements around the town's perimeter from all four directions. Also today, 400 families from Hit have arrived in Baghdadi township where they are walking the streets, and there has been no food or financial aid forthcoming for these families.

In Fallujah, intermittent clashes have continued between last night and this afternoon; some residential districts were bombarded but there has only been material damage with no casualties.

In Ramadi, clashes are continuing in a number of the city's residential districts, especially those in the southern sector that have been controlled by the gunmen for more than 6 months. We conducted a public opinion survey today through which the local residents have called on the central and local government to replace the security leadership and to carry out an investigation into the province's security lapses. There are also reports that the tribal leaders have called on the Prime Minister, the Commander-in-chief, to replace the Anbar Operations Commander, following the major security lapses.

Meanwhile, the Anbar local government, following its meeting with Dr. Saleem Al-Juburi, the Speaker of Parliament, has confirmed that it is proceeding with the formation of tribal forces that would protect the security situation within the province. There are also plans underway to construct residential complexes for the province's displaced families.

18 July 2014

In Ramadi, intermittent clashes have taken place in the southern sector snd the countryside areas outside the city along the banks of the Euphrates. Within the city similar clashes have taken place in the western parts of the city adjacent to the Anbar Operations Command and the 8th Brigade HQ. At this time we do not yet have casualty figures for any of the clashes. A number of gunmen have been reported killed in the southern sector in military operations, according to security and political sources at the Anbar Council.

In Fallujah, there have been attacks on the northern sector of the city and along the main Baghdad-Fallujah highway in a coordinated operation between Fallujah and Al-Garma, according to Defense Ministry sources. A number of residential districts in the city have been shelled, including Al-Sichir to the north and Al-Nu'aimiya to the south. The casualty count between last night and noon today shows that 17 residents have been killed and 39 others wounded, the highest count for more than a week. In one incident all 6 members of one family were killed by the shelling.

The main towns in western Ramadi are still under the gunmen's control and it is they who are running the day-to-day situation in those areas.

The negative reaction of many Anbaris to the election of Saleem Al-Juburi as Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament is similar to that when Usama Al-Nujaifi was elected as Speaker and Saleh Al-Mutlag as Deputy Prime Minister in the past. As they all belong to the same class and the same sect of those who live in Anbar.