07 February 2015

The Anbar Operations commander has declared a curfew throughout Ramadi - beginning at 10:00 this morning and until further notice, following the emergence of information about ISIL's intentions to launch a broad offensive against the city center and particularly against the government complex there. An assault has in fact been launched against the city's southern sector districts. The gunmen attempted to penetrate into the city, but security forces and the 'Golden Division' and Iraqi air support have repelled the surprise attack. Other reports point to ISIL's intentions of blowing up the bridges between Ramadi city and its outlying western areas.

Anbar Operations have confirmed reports of an imminent military operation to cleanse Hit, following the leaflets dropped by Iraqi aircraft on a number of Hit's districts advising the civilian population to leave the town immediately in order to avoid becoming embroiled in the imminent military operation.

Meanwhile, coalition warplanes have carried out an air strike on Kubaysa, south of Hit. Security forces have announced that the ISIL military commander in the Kubaysa area has been killed, along with at least 20 gunmen.

In Shujariya, military operations are continuing and have spread to include the riverside areas on the opposite banks from Ramadi. Security  forces have killed at least 14 ISIL gunmen and blown up at least 5 booby-trapped residences.

In Fallujah, reports from the General Hospital have confirmed that 5 residents, including a woman and a child, were killed and 17 were wounded by the renewed clashes and indiscriminate mortar bombardment exchanges between security forces controlling the city's perimeter and the ISIL gunmen holding the city.

In Garma, coalition warplanes have carried out a number of missions, killing at least 20 gunmen in the township, particularly in the industrial zone.

Anbar Governor Suhaib Al-Rawi has met today with Defense Minister Khalid Al-Obaidi in Baghdad. They agreed to recruit and arm more than 4,000 tribal volunteers, prior to launching a broad military operation to clear the province of ISIL's presence.