Iraqi Tribes to Take Lead in Falluja Fight, U.S. Says

-        The Iraqi army is planning to cordon off a key Sunni city now occupies by Jihadists so that Sunni tribes can secure it one neighborhood at a time

-        The Iraqi plan reflects a recognition that having the Shiite dominated Iraqi Army mount a frontal assault on a Sunni city that has long been wary of outsiders could lead to an especially violent round of urban warfare and fan sectarian tensions

-        ISIS captured about a dozen Iraqi soldiers near Falluja paraded the through the city in a truck flying the black flag of Al Qaeda, then videotaped their execution the next day

-        The ISIS militants drove into Falluja and the nearby city of Ramadi in as many as 100 trucks equipped with heavy machine guns and antiaircraft guns

-        The Obama administration has not offered to assist the Iraqi forces that are preparing to retake Falluja with American-operated drones or airstrikes

-        The U.S. plans to lease six Apaches in the late summer or early fall, the Iraqi government is buying 24 more but the delivery time can be as long as three years

-        The group took three villages in a northern province, Salahuddin, and it also continued its attacks in Baghdad

Rebels in Syria Claim Control of Resources

-          Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources

-          The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is selling fuel to the Assad government

-          Although there is no clear evidence of direct tactical coordination between the group and Mr. Assad, American officials say that his government has facilitated the group’s rise.

-          The scramble for Syria’s oil is describes as a war within the broader civil war turning in the source of income into a conflict tearing the country apart

-          Syria was once an important supplier of oil to Europe and attracted international oil companies

-          The oil industry production is down from 400,000 (2011) barrels to 80,000 (2013)barrels a day

-          Violence has damaged pipelines and other infrastructure

-          Mr. Assad’s government not only purchased crude from the ISIS but in return has refrained from bombing the group’s headquarters in Raqqa and elsewhere although their locations are well known and clearly marked

-          While rebel oil revenues are small by world market standards they can help groups exercise local power as well as finance their operations

-          Recently most of the area’s rebel brigades have left the administration of the well to an Islamic legal commission set up to run local affairs