Unless something happens quickly to change the on-the-ground dynamic there doesn’t seem like any positive outcome in protecting the key Iraqi infrastructure from ISIS control…
IRAQ – Iraqi army tanks and armored vehicles on Wednesday fought off an advance by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants on the town of Amiriya Fallujah, west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, army sources said, part of a multinational effort to check the group’s progress.

The sources added that around 400 fighters amassed in the nearby towns of Fallujah and Karma the day before, piling pressure on the capital’s western flank.
Government forces fought back ISIS outside Amiriya Fallujah – which faced a siege by the militants for much of this month and is the last government-controlled town before the key provincial city of Fallujah.
Soldiers destroyed five of the fighters’ vehicles, a security source said.
There were no immediate reports on the number of casualties from the fighting there, but the militant advance appears to have been halted.
Another battle between the two sides raged in the area around Hit town, also in western Anbar province, but the outcome remained unclear.
Hit is a walled market town located some 130 km (80 miles) west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad seized by Islamic State militants at the beginning of October.
Anbar’s largest airbase Ain al-Asad, the Haditha Dam – a critical piece of infrastructure – and surrounding towns are encircled by Islamic State to the west from the Syrian border and to the east from militant-controlled sections of Ramadi.  (read more)