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As of 30 March 2017, the DTM has identified 3,058,626 internally displaced persons (509,771 families) displaced after January 2014, dispersed across 106 districts and 3,648 locations in Iraq. For the same period, DTM has identified 1,639,584 returnees (273,264 families).

Notwithstanding that significant population movements were monitored across the country, overall the total number of identified IDPs remained constant, with a decrease of less than 1% (4,182 individuals). In particular, the governorate that reported the highest change in displacement trends was Ninewa, where it was recorded in the same reporting period an increase of approximately 85,000 IDPs (DTM Emergency Tracking).

Overall, the returnee population increased by 4% (60,222 individuals). Particularly, two governorates reported a significant increase of the returnee population, namely Anbar by 5% (36,684 individuals) and Ninewa by 6% (12,714 individuals).

SITUATION OVERVIEW

During the reporting period, between 2 and 30 March 2017, the governorate of Ninewa witnessed major developments. These are mainly related to the military operations to retake the west side of Mosul city, which started on 19 February 2017. Displacement movements have been recorded since 25 February and intensified during the month of March.

The vast majority of IDPs have been transiting through Hammam al-Aliel screening site and have then moved on mainly towards camps located in Southern Ninewa, and particularly in Al Qayarah subdistrict, or towards East Mosul city, transiting through Kokjali as an entry point.

During the reporting period, the DTM recorded an increase in the identified IDP population from Mosul of approximately 85,000 individuals, registering a 30% growth from the beginning of March 2017. Parallel to displacement movements, return movements particularly to East Mosul have also been reported. Between 2 and 30 March, the number of returns to Mosul increased by 18%, corresponding to over 12,000 individuals coming mainly from areas of displacement in Hamdaniya district.

As of 30 March, the DTM reports that up to 367,878 individuals (61,313 families) have been displaced since the onset of the military operations to retake Mosul on 17 October, 2016. Out of this, it is estimated that 78% (287,250 individuals) are still in displacement while 22% (80,628 individuals) have already returned to their place of habitual residence. Due to the challenges to validate IDPs records in out of camp locations which are affected by limited access, DTM is closely working with the government and humanitarian partners to harmonize displacement figures across Ninewa governorate.

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Iraq: Displacement Tracking Matrix | DTM Round 68 - March [EN/AR/KU] - ReliefWeb

Isis has lost more than three-quarters of the territory it seized when it swept across Iraq in the summer of 2014 leaving in control of just seven per cent of the countrythe Iraqi military has said.

BrigGenYahya Rasool, a military spokesman, said the extremist group currently controls less than 12,000 square miles (30,000 square kilometres) in Iraq, or 6.8 per cent of the countrys territory. That is down from more than 40 per cent at its height.

The extremist group has also lost ground in Syria, and is currently fighting US-backed forces near Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled Caliphate.

Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have gradually pushed the jihadis out of a string of towns and cities over the past two years, and are currently battling the group in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Iraq declared eastern Mosul fully liberated in January, and BrigGenRasool said Iraqi forces have retaken more than half of the more densely populated western side.

Our troops are very cautious in their advance, BrigGenRasool said in Baghdad. The biggest challenge they face is the civilians.ColJohn Dorrian, a USspokesman for the coalition, said the fight for western Mosul has been difficult.

The enemys tactics are not only hiding among the civilian population but also actively pulling civilians into harm's way, surrounding their snipers with civilians, loading buildings that they are firing from with civilians and publicly executing civilians who are trying escape the danger, he said.

Victory against Isis has come at a staggering cost, with some towns and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble by airstrikes and shelling. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced, and many have been unable to return even after the fighting because of demolished infrastructure and the lingering threat of attacks.

The push against the jihadis in Western Mosul is bogged down with Iraqi security forces fighting in a warren of small streets in the old part of the city.

The federal police said in a statement on Tuesday they have been reinforcing their positions in Western Mosul in preparation for a push on the al-Nuri Mosque where Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Caliphatein 2014.

ColDorrian said the fight in Western Mosul had been tough but said Islamic State fighters had no escape.

Do not lose sight of the fact that even though the fighting is going to be very hard, this enemy is completely surrounded, he said. They aren't going anywhere.

Agencies

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Isis now in control of just 7 per cent of country, says Iraq - The Independent

With the fall of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) seemingly imminent, nearly every Iraqi political group and its associated militia have been rushing to take control of the newly liberated territories in the governorates of Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahadin. Those that have been the most successful are the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), an umbrella of over three dozen mostly Shiite armed groups formed in 2014 to fight ISIS, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the two main Kurdish political parties in Iraq. (The Iraqi government, meanwhile, has been notably slow in reclaiming its own land.)

Some of the land that is up for grabs is rich in oil, and control over more territory would mean gaining more political leverage in Baghdad. What is more, the five governorates, in which the territories are located, were disputed even before the ISIS takeover in 2014. Both the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq and the central government in Baghdad claimed sovereignty. But ISIS takeover has essentially reset the political and military landscape in these areas, allowing these political and military forces to put down new roots.

In seeking to govern and secure areas that are either predominantly Sunni, Kurdish, or a mix, Shiite and Kurdish groups have had to resort to crossing both ethnic and sectarian lines to win the support of locals and recruit soldiers into their military forces. For their parts, the PMU and KDP have tried to recruit Sunni Arabs, who constitute roughly 25 percent of the countrys total population and live in those nearly liberated territories. They have been left with little to no representation, political power, or security because even before ISIS, strong Sunni leaders had been pushed out from the central governments decision-making and weak leaders had lost credibility with the local population.

The two groups are also recruiting Kurds living in the towns of northern Diyala (Jalaula, Khanaqin, and Mandali) and northern Salahadin (Tuz Khurmatu). Some of the districts are controlled

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Land Grabs in Iraq - Foreign Affairs (subscription)

Rep. Tulsi GabbardTulsi GabbardDems want Trumps Syria strategy White House: Russia trying to 'cover up' gas attack Gabbard: We need to learn from Iraq MORE (D-Hawaii) has a message for the liberals attacking her criticism of President Trumps missile strike on Syria, warning that a rush to aggression risks repeating the same mistakes that led the United States into the Iraq War.

We need to learn from Iraq and Libya wars that were propagated as necessary to relieve human suffering, but actually increased human suffering many times over, she said in an email to The Hill.

Gabbard, a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard who served two tours in Iraq, has been highly critical of Trumps decision last Thursday to launch 59 missiles at a Syrian airfield in response to a deadly chemical attack that killed scores of civilians, including children, in a western Syrian town days before.

Gabbards position particularly her skepticism that the Syrian government was behind the chemical attacks has led to an outcry from some establishment Democrats, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who want her out of Congress.

A meeting between Gabbard and Assad in January has only heightened the critics belief that shes acting as an apologist for a tyrannical leader known to employ brutal tactics, even against his own people, to keep a grip on power in the country's yearslong civil war.

But Gabbard, who sits on both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, maintains those critics are ignoring the lessons of recent history that have left the United States mired in costly Middle Eastern conflicts for more than a decade.

"I and thousands of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms went to war in Iraq based on false intelligence and lies from our leaders our president, military and political leaders. We should have been skeptical then, and we werent, she said. The cost was thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars down the drain. What to speak of millions of non-American lives.

Echoing the position of other liberal Democrats, Gabbard says the administration is conducting an unconstitutional war because Trump didnt come to Congress before launching the strike. Going a step further, shes also questioning the veracity of Trumps claim that Assad is responsible for the chemical attacks.

"There is a reason our Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war: we should be shown the evidence and given the opportunity to debate the strategy and sacrifice expected, she said.

No leader of either party, pro or against military intervention should let our President take us down the path to another regime change war without that debate."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who praised the U.S. strike, is urging GOP leaders to cut short Congresss two-week April recess to bring the House back into session to stage such a debate.

Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanTrump: 'I don't like the term "border adjustment"' GOP infighting imperils agenda GOP wrestles with big question: What now? MORE (Wis.) has rebuffed that request, though the Republican leader is also calling on Trump to confer with Congress about a future course in Syria.

It is now appropriate for the administration to consult with Congress as it considers next steps to resolve the long-running crisis in Syria, Ryan's officesaid Friday.

The House is scheduled to reconvene on April 25.

--This report was updated at 2:01 p.m.

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Gabbard: 'We need to learn from Iraq' - The Hill

April 12, 2017 09:00 ET | Source: Ziyen Inc.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziyen Inc., who was qualified by the SEC under Regulation A+, have opened a new investment division in the company to focus on financing unfunded construction projects in Iraq.

Ziyen Inc. will be the worlds first Construction Intelligence company, where we will be utilizing the data, information and intelligence from our software with the capabilities to provide the finance for long-term projects.

Alastair Caithness CEO said, "The biggest fear for countries in the West is how to handle mass immigration. The cost of war has created over 250,000 International Iraqi refugees outside the Middle East, 2 million refugees in neighboring countries with a further 4 million displaced in Iraq. Therefore, the problem is only going to get worse rather than better unless we start to address the root cause.

The current horrific conditions have meant 70% of Iraqi people lack access to clean water, 80% lack proper sanitation leading to cholera epidemics and unemployment is over 50% for those under 30 years old. Power supplies from the national grid often dont exceed five hours per day.

We want to help the Iraqi people to rebuild their country. By building houses, factories and developing infrastructure, there will be an opportunity to create jobs, give people hope and help stop the mass immigration issues.

The US, European and International communities have the capabilities to do this, and if Ziyen Inc. can finance projects and bring media attention through our news outlets to focus on positives in the country, then we can help to start to rebuild a country which once had a thriving economy."

For more information about the company and investment opportunities visithttp://www.ziyen.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements related to anticipated commencement of commercial production, targeted pricing and performance goals, and statements that otherwise relate to future periods are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Companys periodic reports filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made and based on information available to the Company on the date of this press release. Ziyen Inc. assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release.

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Ziyen Inc. ready to invest in Iraq - GlobeNewswire (press release)