Over 52,000 Killed in Iraq during 2015
Antiwar.com
reports (January 1st): Antiwar.com has found
that at least 52,045 people were killed across Iraq
during 2015, while at least 19,651 were wounded. The
number of fatalities reported was slightly higher than
in 2014, but the number of wounded was substantially
lower. These figures should be taken as very rough
estimates and probably low estimates at that.
Terrified families emerge from rubble after battle of Ramadi
Reuters
report (January 1st): Terrified families waved
white flags as they emerged from homes reduced to
rubble in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, where government
troops were still battling Islamic State fighters
holed up, five days after the army recaptured the city
center.
80% of Ramadi destroyed
Al-Araby
reports (December 30th): Islamic State group
retreated from Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar
province, after eight days of fierce battles that left
nearly 80 percent of the city's infrastructure
destroyed.
Neighbourhoods, homes,
businesses, bridges, sewers, almost everything has
been either destroyed by booby-traps and explosive
devices that IS had set up everywhere around the city,
or by Iraqi and US-led coalition forces airstrikes and
artillery bombardment, as they sought to minimise
casualties in their ranks.
Iraqi PM says Turkey not respecting agreement to withdraw troops
Reuters
report (December 30th): Iraq's prime minister
accused Turkey of failing to respect an agreement to
withdraw its troops from the country's north and its
foreign minister said if forced, Iraq could resort to
military action to defend its sovereignty.
Exclusive: Iraqi army needs Kurds' help to retake Mosul – Zebari
Reuters
report (December 29th): The Iraqi army will need
the Kurds' help to retake Mosul, the largest city
under the control of Islamic State with the planned
offensive expected to be very challenging in a region
home to rival religious and ethnic groups, an Iraqi
minister said.
Ethnic cleansing by Sunni and Shia jihadis is leading to a partition of the Middle East
The
independent reports (December 27th): Sectarian
and ethnic cleansing by all sides in Syria and Iraq is
becoming more intense, ensuring that there are few
mixed areas left in the two countries and, even if the
war ends, many refugees will find it too dangerous to
return to their homes.
Communities which once lived
together in peace are today so frightened of each
other after years of savage warfare that the more
powerful sect or ethnic group is forcing out the
weaker one. This pattern is repeating itself
everywhere from the Sunni towns captured by Shia
militiamen in provinces around Baghdad to Christian
enclaves in central Syria under threat from Isis, and
in Turkmen villages just south of the Syrian-Turkish
border being bombed by Russian aircraft.
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