IS offensives could displace 2.3m Iraqis

23rd, June 2016

BAGHDAD: Upcoming military offensives in Iraq against IS, including an assault on the northern city of Mosul, could displace at least 2.3 million people, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said on Thursday.

The prediction of such a vast humanitarian emergency creates additional complications for the Iraqi government and its US allies, who have announced plans for offensives to drive IS fighters this year from most of their Iraqi territory.

More than 3.4 million people across Iraq have already been forced by conflict to leave their homes, according to the United Nations.

In the past month, 85,000 people fled Fallujah, an IS stronghold an hour’s drive from Baghdad, amid a military campaign that has recaptured large parts of the city.

Most of the displaced are from Iraq’s minority community, raising concerns among officials that US-backed military gains against IS will not bring stability to Iraq more than 13 years after a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.

IS fighters swept through much of northern and western Iraq two years ago and declared a caliphate to rule over territory there and in neighbouring Syria.

The extremists have lost ground in recent weeks to a number of enemies on several fronts in both countries, with the main battles still looming for the caliphate’s two de facto capitals, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.

Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in an

interview that at least 430,000 more people could be displaced this year in Anbar, Iraq’s sprawling desert province stretching west from Fallujah to the Syrian border.

Government forces have retaken several cities in Anbar from IS in the past six months and are still pressing up the Euphrates river valley towards the border town of Qaim.

 — Reuters