Archive for the ‘Iraq’ Category

Report: 2016 first year of no combat amputations since Afghan, Iraq wars began – Military Times

Last year marked the first year without a combat amputation for a U.S. service member since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began, according to the U.S. Military Health System.

Recent numbers from the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, a report from the Defense Health Agencys Armed Forces Health Surveillance, show that 2016 was the first year with no combat related amputations since they began reporting the numbers in January 2003.

Army Medical Surveillance Activity. Deployment-related condition of special surveillance interest: amputations. Amputations of lower and upper extremities, U.S. Armed Forces. Photo Credit: U.S. Military Health System Since the wars broke out, well over a thousand armed service members have had to have an upper and/or lower extremity amputated as a result of combat injuries during deployments.

To accurately track amputations, AFHSB records the number of incidents by each service of the armed forces to track distribution, impact and trends. The AFHSB chief, Army Col. Douglas Badzik said such analyses help provide a force that is healthy and ready to carry out its mission.

June and July of 2011 say more combat-caused amputations than any other months since Jan. 2003. Both months saw more than 35 amputations each.

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), commonly referred to as roadside bombs, were one of the primary causes of amputations among combat forces over the past 13 years. Improvements in protective equipment, including safer vehicles, as well as innovations in battlefield medical care have helped to decrease these numbers.

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Report: 2016 first year of no combat amputations since Afghan, Iraq wars began - Military Times

Fleeing Islamic State in Iraq, with nowhere to turn, refugees …

They camp on muddy corners, beside an abandoned mosque and in the rain-soaked ruins of a soccer stadium families displaced by ongoing fighting in Mosul are filling emergency camps in this smaller city about 20 miles south.

Disabled boys arrived in wheelchairs one day last week, and elderly men limped in on metal braces and canes.

Ashraf Mohammed Nouri came clutching his wide-eyed, 11-month-old daughter, Manara. Most of their family, including Manaras mother, had been killed when their house was struck during fighting in west Mosul a week earlier, Nouri said. His mother had been hospitalized on the citys east side.

We dont know what happened to her, Nouri said of his mother as he awaited security screening at the camp entrance. I just want to go and see my family.

An estimated 400,000 Iraqi civilians remain trapped in Mosul's western Old City as fighting intensifies and people continue to flee, United Nations officials warned.

The worst is yet to come, said Bruno Geddo, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Iraq representative.

Meeting with civilians at the UNHCR camp at Hamam Alil, Geddo said the number of people moving through has surged in recent days with up to 12,000 arriving daily.

At least 340,000 people have been displaced since the fighting in Mosul started last October, and up to 500,000 could flee by the time its over, according to Iraqi and United Nations officials.

Liberating Mosul is necessary but not sufficient, Geddo said. We equally have to get it right with the protection of civilians and in the humanitarian response.

Aid agencies warned at the start of the Mosul offensive that hundreds of thousands could flee the fighting. Instead, many families on the east side initially sheltered in place, and those who did flee found shelter at hastily erected emergency camps.

Now, however, with fighting intensifying as troops move deeper into the more densely populated west side, shortages abound and the exodus has accelerated, with some arriving barefoot and bereft, straining Hamam Alil.

After more than 200 civilians were killed in what witnesses described as an airstrike, the U.S.-led coalition opened an investigation last week into whether it was responsible, and U.N. officials expressed concern for the welfare of civilians trapped in the city. The top U.S. general commanding the fight against Islamic State in the region this week said that the coalition was probably responsible for the strike.

Nothing in this conflict is more important than protecting civilians, said Lise Grande, the U.N.s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. Parties to the conflict all parties are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians. This means that combatants cannot use people as human shields and cannot imperil lives through indiscriminate use of firepower. We fear for the families who are caught in the conflict.

The camp in Hamam Alil, like many surrounding Mosul, was quickly erected to provide the bare essentials: a fence for security, shelter under hundreds of white family tents, larger group tents designed to hold 150 people temporarily, and latrines, all lined up along dirt roads that quickly turn to mud when it rains.

Two weeks ago, 45,000 west Mosul residents were displaced, a 22% increase from the previous week, according to the U.N.

Last week, 215,306 displaced people were housed at 22 camps and emergency sites in the Mosul area, with an additional eight sites under construction, according to figures from the U.N., Institute of Migration and camp managers. Eight of those camps were full, including Hamam Alil, which housed 30,000.

And those figures dont include thousands of others who passed through Hamam Alil earlier this month to other locations or stayed at informal settlements outside the camps, like the ruins of a mosque and soccer stadium.

"There are tents waiting," said Heidi Diedrich, Iraq country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs the camp in Hamam Alil and has increased aid in recent weeks along with other nonprofits. Although many people are choosing to stay elsewhere, we are also trying to meet the needs of these people.

Melany Markham, a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Refugee Council, was at the camp Thursday, and spoke with some of those settled just outside its gates.

Its complicated because all of the people who are displaced make their own decisions, she said later. For example, I met a 12-year-old boy and they have a lot of livestock, which they cant have in the camp. So theyre staying by the mosque.

There are other reasons why displaced families may wait to be housed at the same camp, she said: There are ethnic and religious groups, or neighbors, who just want to say together.

After Abdul Hadi Mohammed, 52, hobbled out of west Mosul with his Sunni family last week, his right leg injured by shrapnel from a mortar round, he was treated at a clinic in Hamam Alil but then chose to leave in an attempt to rejoin relatives at a camp in east Mosul.

He arrived to find Kurdish soldiers steering him to a different camp. Mohammed balked. His family ended up stuck at a military checkpoint. We dont know if there is space or not, Mohammed said as he waited on crutches by the side of the road.

The Iraqi government revised its estimate of those expected to be displaced from western Mosul from 250,000 to 400,000, and expects the daily rate of displacement to exceed 10,000. Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced new initiatives to address the crisis, including increases in personnel, transportation, ambulances, camp support, aid to cleared areas and funding for the Iraqi Red Crescent.

An extension of the Hamam Alil camp under construction nearby is expected to open in a week, doubling its capacity, Markham said. New camp construction around Mosul is expected to create shelter for nearly 276,000 additional displaced people.

Outside one of scores of tents at the Hamam Alil camp housing 150 people each, Ghanim Mohammed said he barely managed to flee west Mosul this month with his two children.

We were in the crossfire between Islamic State and the [Iraqi] army. It was a miracle that we escaped, he said.

Mohammed, 26, a laborer, wasnt sure where they would go next, since their home was destroyed by mortar rounds. He was grateful for his spot in the tent, near a World Health Organization mobile clinic, portable bathrooms and food distribution. He knows other families squatting in the ruins of nearby buildings, which have not been fully cleared of bombs planted by militants.

Mohammed and camp staff pointed to a building where a family had been staying this month. They accidentally triggered a bomb and died.

Just up the street, 38 displaced people including more than a dozen children camped under the concrete ruins of the soccer stadium stands. They arrived the day before, cordoned off an area the size of two rooms with rope, bedsheets and comforters, then covered the ground with cardboard boxes.

We feel secure in the area because police are around and they are protecting us, said Samir Taha Tahsin, 42, although police had not told him about the dangers of hidden explosives.

He and other farmers in his group planned to rent cars and leave soon, once they replaced identification paperwork they lost in Mosul that will help them clear security checkpoints. Islamic State militants had forced them into the city almost two years ago from their native Samarra to the south, they said, then from neighborhood to neighborhood. They still have land and want to return home.

They were receiving food from the camp next door, using the bathrooms and clinic. They worried others fleeing in coming days would receive even less than they have.

Many families are still in Mosul. Many neighborhoods have not been freed yet. If they come here, where are they going to stay? Tahsin said.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Twitter: @mollyhf

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Fleeing Islamic State in Iraq, with nowhere to turn, refugees ...

Iraq – Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #2, Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 – Reliefweb

HIGHLIGHTS

UN releases 2017 appeal for $985 million to address humanitarian needs in Iraq

USG provides $197 million in additional assistance for the humanitarian response in Iraq and surrounding areas, including for needs resulting from the Mosul offensive

ISF recaptures eastern Mosul from ISIS, launches military offensive to retake western areas of the city

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

The U.S. Government (USG) provided an additional $197 million to address the needs of conflict-affected Iraqis, bringing total USG humanitarian assistance for the Iraq crisis to more than $1.3 billion since 2014. The new funding will support non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the UN, and other international organizations to provide critical, life-saving assistance to the more than 3.1 million people displaced inside Iraq, including those recently displaced from Ninewa Governorates city of Mosul and surrounding areas, as well as the approximately 251,000 Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries.

On March 28, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released the 2017 Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), requesting $985 million to reach approximately 6.2 million highly vulnerable people in Iraq with multi-sector humanitarian assistance. Overall, the HRP and complementary Humanitarian Needs Overview, released on March 7, identified 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including up to 4.2 million people who could be displaced by the end of 2017. The HRP also reports that as many as 3 million people are expected to require humanitarian assistance in Ninewa, where conflict-related displacement has increased in recent months due to the Mosul offensive.

On January 24, Government of Iraq (GoI) Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) had regained control of eastern Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) after three months of fighting. On February 19, ISF launched an offensive to regain control of ISIS-held western Mosul. More than 207,000 civilians had fled western Mosul as of March 29, according to State/PRM partner the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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Iraq - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #2, Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 - Reliefweb

UN Urges Iraq and Allies to Rethink Tactics as Airstrikes Kill Civilians – New York Times


New York Times
UN Urges Iraq and Allies to Rethink Tactics as Airstrikes Kill Civilians
New York Times
GENEVA Airstrikes against Islamic State fighters are killing so many civilians that Iraq and its American-led coalition of allies should reconsider their tactics, the top human rights official at the United Nations said on Tuesday. Zeid Ra'ad al ...
UN chief presses Iraq's leaders to reconcile once Mosul wonReuters
Is Trump's 'secret plan' to defeat ISIS dragging us into another Iraq war?The Boston Globe
U.S. airstrikes have killed more and more civilians in Iraq and Syria since Trump took officeVICE News
Chicago Tribune
all 1,756 news articles »

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UN Urges Iraq and Allies to Rethink Tactics as Airstrikes Kill Civilians - New York Times

Civilian Deaths in Iraq, Syria Undercut US Victories – Voice of America

BAGHDAD

Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked militants are quickly moving to drum up outrage over a spike in civilian casualties said to have been caused by U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, posting photos online of a destroyed medical center and homes reduced to rubble. "This is how Trump liberates Mosul, by killing its inhabitants," the caption reads.

During two years of fighting to push back IS, the U.S.-led coalition has faced little backlash over casualties, in part because civilian deaths have been seen as relatively low and there have been few cases of single strikes killing large numbers of people. In Iraq, even though sensitivities run deep over past American abuses of civilians, the country's prime minister and many Iraqis support the U.S. role in fighting the militants.

But anger over lives lost is becoming a significant issue as Iraqi troops backed by U.S. special forces and coalition airstrikes wade into more densely populated districts of Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, and U.S.-backed Syrian fighters battle closer to the IS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria. That has the potential to undercut victories against the militants and stoke resentments that play into their hands.

At least 300 civilians have been killed in the offensive against IS in the western half of Mosul since mid-February, according to the U.N. human rights office, including 140 killed in a single March 17 airstrike on a building. Dozens more were said to have been killed in another strike last weekend, according to Amnesty International, and by similar airstrikes in Syria in the past month.

Sharply higher toll

In Syria, as fighting around Raqqa intensified, civilian fatalities from coalition airstrikes rose to 198 in March including 32 children and 31 women compared with 56 in February, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents Syria's war. Over the course of the air campaign, from September 2014 through February, an average of 30 civilians were killed a month, according to the observatory.

FILE - Civil protection rescue teams work on the debris of a destroyed house to recover the body of people killed during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants on the western side of Mosul, Iraq, March 24, 2017.

The U.S. military is investigating what role the U.S. played in the March 17 airstrike in Mosul, and American and Iraqi officials have said militants may have deliberately gathered civilians there and planted explosives in the building. The blast left an entire residential block flattened.

Among those who lost loved ones, resentment appears to be building toward the U.S.-led coalition and the ground forces it supports.

"How could they have used this much artillery on civilian locations?" asked Bashar Abdullah, a resident of the neighborhood known as New Mosul, who lost more than a dozen family members in the March 17 attack. "Iraqi and American forces both assured us that it will be an easy battle. That's why people didn't leave their houses. They felt safe."

U.S. officials have said they are investigating other claims of casualties in Syria and Iraq.

IS fighters have overtly used civilians as human shields, including firing from homes where people are sheltering or forcing people to move alongside them as they withdraw. The group has imposed a reign of terror across territories it holds in Syria and Iraq, taking women as sex slaves, decapitating or shooting suspected opponents and destroying archaeological sites. Mass graves are unearthed nearly every day in former IS territory.

Now, the group is using the civilian deaths purportedly caused by U.S.-led airstrikes in its propaganda machine.

Today's 'Mongols'

Photos recently posted on militant websites showed the destruction at the Mosul Medical College with a caption describing the Americans as the "Mongols of the modern era" who kill and destroy under the pretext of liberation. A series of pictures showing destroyed homes carried the comment: "This is how Trump liberates Mosul, by killing its inhabitants under the rubble of houses bombed by American warplanes to claim victory. Who would dare say this is a war crime?"

FILE - Residents carry the body of a person killed during fights between Iraq security forces and Islamic State on the western side of Mosul, Iraq, March 24, 2017.

In Syria, IS and other extremist factions have pushed the line that the U.S. and Russia, which is backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime, are equal in their disregard for civilian lives.

U.S. "crimes are clear evidence of the 'murderous friendship' that America claims to have with the Syrian people, along with its claimed concern for their future and interests," said the Levant Liberation Committee, an al-Qaida-led insurgent alliance.

Some Syrian opposition factions allied with the U.S. have also criticized the strikes, describing them as potential war crimes.

An analysis by the Soufan Group consultancy warned that rumors and accusations of coalition atrocities "will certainly help shape popular opinion once Mosul and Raqqa are retaken, thus serving a purpose for the next phase of the Islamic State's existence."

Criticism has also come from Russian officials, whose military has been accused of killing civilians on a large scale in its air campaign in Syria, particularly during the offensive that recaptured eastern Aleppo from rebels late last year.

"I'm greatly surprised with such action of the U.S. military, which has all the necessary equipment and yet were unable to figure out for several hours that they weren't striking the designated targets," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, speaking at the U.N. Security Council about the March 17 strike.

Coalition won't 'back down'

Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, acknowledged the spike in civilian casualty reports could change the way the coalition is conducting the war. He said it was a "very valid" concern that loss of life and destruction could play into the hands of IS or cause some coalition members to waver.

"But the coalition is not going to back down when [the fight] gets hard or there's a lot of pressure," he said. "That's what ISIS wants."

In Syria, the deadliest recent strike occurred this month in a rebel-held area in the north. Opposition activists said a mosque was hit during evening prayers, killing about 40 people, mostly civilians, and wounding dozens of others. The U.S. said it struck an al-Qaida gathering across the street from the mosque, killing dozens of militants, adding they found no basis for reports that civilians were killed.

In Mosul, the scale of destruction wrought by increased artillery and airstrikes is immense in some areas.

Abdullah, the resident of New Mosul, buried 13 members of his family in a single day.

Standing in a field now being used as a graveyard, he said: "This was not a liberation. It was destruction."

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Civilian Deaths in Iraq, Syria Undercut US Victories - Voice of America