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UN, agencies fear for civilians trapped in Fallujah
May 26, 2016, 10:26 pm

A number of Iranian-backed militias have been helping the Iraqi army advance on Fallujah [Xinhua]

A number of Iranian-backed militias have been helping the Iraqi army advance on Fallujah [Xinhua]


As Iraq’s military campaign to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State enters its fourth day, relief agencies that have been providing assistance to the few refugees who have escaped the fighting say the humanitarian situation is dire in the besieged city.

The Norwegian Relief Council (NRC), a humanitarian assistance group outside Fallujah, says fewer than 100 families – mostly from outlying towns – have been able to escape the fighting in the past four days.

They said that those who remain in the besieged city face starvation.

Although Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has promised that his government will create humanitarian corridors to allow easy access for civilians escaping the fighting, relief agencies report that these have failed to materialize.

“They were faced with two impossible choices,” said Becky Bakr Abdulla of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who is on the ground in Iraq. “If they stay in Fallujah they face possible starvation, if they try to escape they risk being killed getting out,” Abdulla added in statements published on NRC’s website Wednesday.

Heavy shelling by the Iraqi Army and aerial bombardment from US-led coalition air sorties have battered the city for the past six months.

The Iraqi Army says that the liberation of Fallujah marks an important milestone on the way to liberating a much more important and strategic city – Iraq’s second largest – Mosul in the north.

On Thursday, the Iraqi Army supported by Iranian-backed militias captured the strategic town of Karma just outside Fallujah.

Fallujah, which lies 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, has been used as a launch pad for many attacks in the capital itself.

Once home to some 300,000 civilians, Fallujah has been battered by two US ground assaults in 2004 and a failed attempt to rout out Al-Qaeda fighters in 2013.

The United Nations says it fears for the safety of an estimated 50,000 civilians still holed up in the city.

“We are receiving distressing reports of civilians trapped inside Falluja who are desperate to escape to safety, but can’t,” UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lisa Grande said on Wednesday.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies