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ISIS is aiming to establish normalcy in areas where it has control in Iraq. Hosting fairs and Eid celebrations represents an attempt to show the “friendly” side of ISIS, publicizing recreational activities rather than an oppressive state.
ISIS continued to challenge the Peshmerga near Sinjar, although these are not major operations and do not demonstrate a desire to control Sinjar.
On June 24, ISW assessed that the area of Udhaim was cleared by the ISF and Iraqi Shi’a militias. On July 28, however, the Defense Ministry announced the start of an operation that has thus far cleared three villages and remains ongoing. The operation appears to be prompted by an increasing number of clashes and IEDs emplaced in the city, which indicates a level of ISIS access to the area that challenges full ISF control. ISW is therefore changing the status of Udhaim from ISF controlled to contested.
The Taliban’s annual summer offensive in Afghanistan in 2014 can be characterized by waves of violence across the country and, in particular, a string of attacks ringing the capital, Kabul. The attacks appear mainly to target Afghanistan’s infrastructure, particularly its airports. Although the Taliban attempted to focus its efforts in June on the 2014 presidential election runoff, it was unsuccessful in derailing the elections or disrupting them to a notable degree. That period of concentrated effort lasted less than two weeks.
Reports that ISIS is sending reinforcements to the vicinity of the Hamrin Dam indicate that ISIS is seeking to control the dam as a military objective rather than pursuing it as a feint to divert ISF resources away from other targets.
Significant ISIS attacks occurred in the north, west, and east of Iraq.
ISW is placing a watch on Hit as an area that ISIS likely desires to control.
ISIS efforts to control critical infrastructural like the Hamrin Dam is worrisome, as ISIS has previously utilized control over the Fallujah dam to counter the ISF and prevent water supplies from reaching southern Iraq.
Hundreds of members of Iraqi Shi’a militias and their supporters gathered in central Baghdad to participate in parades celebrating Quds Day, an Iranian-backed annual event expressing solidarity with Palestine.
ISIS continued to deploy VBIEDs in hardened areas in Baghdad, this time in Karrada, central Baghdad, indicating both the capability and the intent to focus efforts on the Iraqi capital.