It has been more than two weeks since ISIL seized control of Fallujah and half of Ramadi and as far as I can tell the Iraqi government is no closer to taking them back.

Via France 24:

A wave of bomb attacks in Iraq, including a series of coordinated car bombings in Baghdad, killed at least 46 people on Wednesday as Islamist militants took more territory from Iraqi security forces in Anbar province.

Authorities are grappling with Iraq’s worst period of unrest since the country emerged from a sectarian war that killed tens of thousands, just months before landmark parliamentary elections. …

In Anbar province, Iraqi forces lost more ground as Sunni gunmen, including those linked to al Qaeda, overran two key areas when police abandoned their posts.

The losses mark a second day of setbacks for government forces and their tribal allies as they try to retake territory on the capital’s doorstep from militants who hold all of the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah and parts of the nearby provincial capital, Ramadi.

The crisis marks the first time militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the height of the insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.

“We gave ourselves up, and we gave up our arms to Daash,” one policemen, who did not want to be named, told AFP from the town of Saqlawiyah, referring to the commonly used Arabic name for the al Qaeda-linked group ISIL.

“They have very heavy arms, which are much stronger than what we have. Our police station was not very well-protected, and they surrounded us. Even when we called for support, nobody came. Now, some of us have gone home, others have gone to other police stations,” he said.

Militants overran the police station in Saqlawiyah, a town just west of Fallujah, and took control of the entire area after using mosque loudspeakers to urge policemen to abandon their posts and their weapons.

They also retook the station and surrounding neighbourhood of Malaab, a major district in Ramadi, after security forces trumpeted their successes in the area just days earlier.