Iraq faces humanitarian disaster after Fallujah breakthrough

Aid agencies implored the government to help as they struggled to cope with the unfolding humanitarian crisis, with thousands of civilians already suffering from hunger and trauma now stranded in the scorching summer heat with no shelter.

An Iraqi soldier helps civilians, who fled from Fallujah as government forces pressed into the former stronghold of ISIL, on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq on June 18, 2016. Reuters

FALLUJAH // Aid workers were on Sunday scrambling to cope with the massive influx of displaced Iraqis who fled Fallujah after government forces recaptured much of the city from ISIL, as the United Nations warned that thousands of civilians were still leaving the former stronghold of the extremist group after it was declared liberated.

Humanitarian groups have been struggling to cope, with thousands of people already suffering from hunger and trauma now stranded in the scorching summer heat with no shelter.

“The estimated total number of displaced from Fallujah in just the last three days is now at a staggering 30,000 people,” the Norwegian Refugee Council said.

Over the past three days, the UN says that nearly ten thousand families have fled Fallujah amid the heavy fighting. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said up to 84,000 people had been forced to flee their homes in Fallujah and the surrounding areas since the start of the government offensive against the ISIL bastion nearly a month ago.

“Agencies are scrambling to respond to the rapidly evolving situation and we are bracing ourselves for another large exodus in the next few days as we estimate that thousands more people remain trapped in Fallujah,” said Bruno Geddo, the representative for the UN’s refugee agency in Iraq.

Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declared victory on Friday after special forces recaptured most of Fallujah following weeks of fierce fighting.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said that camps run by the Iraqi government and humanitarian groups were overwhelmed.

“We implore the Iraqi government to take charge of this humanitarian disaster unfolding on our watch,” NRC’s Iraq director Nasr Muflahi said.

NRC said it could no longer provide the required assistance, with water rations drying up fast.

It cited the case of a newly opened camp in Amriyat Al Fallujah, south of Fallujah, that houses 1,800 people but has only one latrine for women.

“We need the Iraqi government to take a leading role in providing for the needs of the most vulnerable civilians who have endured months of trauma and terror,” Mr Muflahi said.

An Iraqi aid worker employed by the government at a camp in Amriyat Al Fallujah said the resources were inadequate to deal with the scope of the crisis.

“Four hundred families have reached my camp in the last four days, they don’t have anything,” said the camp manager, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We weren’t prepared to receive them,” he said.

“We secured tents for some of them but the rest, including women and children, are sleeping on the ground under the sun,” he said. “Their situation is a tragedy.”

The temperature in Baghdad has been hovering above 40°C and it often gets hotter in Anbar province.

Mr Al Abadi on Friday declared that Fallujah had been “brought back to the fold”, after Iraqi forces hoisted the national flag above the main government compound.

Yet Iraqi forces have some work left to do, with hundreds of ISIL fighters still holed up in the city’s northern neighbourhoods.

Brig Gen Haider Al Obeidi, an Iraqi commander, reported fierce clashes as elite counterterrorism forces pushed to clear out the remaining militants.

ISIL fighters launched missiles, detonated a suicide car bomb and deployed snipers against Iraqi forces, he said adding that “Iraqi forces are still advancing despite the strong clashes”.

Mr Al Abadi announced the liberation of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, in December but the area was not brought under control until February.

Sporadic ISIL attacks there have continued, the latest of which was a thwarted ambush on the top military commander for Anbar on Sunday in an area called Zankura.

Mr Al Abadi vowed on Friday that Mosul, the country’s second city and ISIL’s last remaining stronghold in Iraq, would be liberated very soon.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press