The government of Iraq recently announced its new priority was to liberate the province of Anbar from the Daesh group, but the jihadists have since seized its capital Ramadi.

Here are some key facts about Anbar:

- SIZE: Anbar is by far the largest of Iraq's 18 provinces. It is an area of mostly desert covering 138,000 square kilometres (55,200 square miles) -- roughly the size of Greece.

Besides Ramadi, its biggest cities are Fallujah, Hit and Haditha. It is traversed by the Euphrates river, along which nearly all the population is concentrated.

- POPULATION: The province had an estimated population of more than two million people, almost all Sunni Arabs, before violence broke out in late 2013.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 900,000 Anbaris have been forced from their homes since January 2014, accounting for around a third of Iraq's displaced population. About half of them fled to other provinces while the other half moved to camps and other locations within Anbar.

- LOCATION: Anbar borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The country's second largest dam is near Haditha in western Anbar. The province stretches east all the way to Baghdad international airport.

- INSURGENCIES: Anbar was always hard to control for Baghdad, even under Saddam Hussein and before. It was in Fallujah that a revolt against the British flared in 1920.

In the first years of their occupation of Iraq, Anbar was the deadliest province for US forces that notably suffered heavy losses in several battles in 2004.

- US INFLUENCE:  The fierce battles its troops fought there during eight years of occupation gave Washington a wealth of local knowledge. It was in Anbar that the US-led Sahwa programme enlisting the help of Sunni tribal fighters was developed.

Anbar is geographically and historically removed from US arch-foe Iran. One of the main bases where US military advisers are stationed is Al-Asad in western Anbar.