Iraq Arrests 500 Daesh Suspects Trying to Sneak Out of Fallujah

June 13, 2016 By administrator

Hundreds of Daesh extremists attempted to take advantage of the ongoing evacuation of the besieged city of Fallujah by blending in with fleeing civilians.

More than 500 alleged Daesh terrorists have been arrested by Iraqi forces as they tried to flee Fallujah, one of the terrorist group’s strongholds in the western Anbar province, Daily Sabah reported.

According to police in the Anbar province, extremists tried to leave besieged Fallujah by using fake IDs.

“We have arrested 546 suspected terrorists who had fled by taking advantage of the movements of displaced families over the past two weeks,” said Hadi Rzayej, the police chief for Anbar province.

“Daesh (IS) is fleeing among the civilians, we have arrested many and are investigating the suspects,” said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander in charge of the operation to recapture Fallujah.

There are estimated to still be 1,000-2,000 Daesh members at the scene of fighting. Government forces are thoroughly screening the fleeing civilians, separating teenagers and adults.

Fallujah, located about 65 kilometers to the west of Baghdad, was seized by Daesh in the beginning of 2014. On May 23, 2016, the country’s authorities announced the start of an operation to liberate the city.

On June 11 the Iraqi Army opened a safe corridor on the southwest of the city, allowing thousands of civilians seek shelter from the fighting. UN deputy representative to Iraq Lise Grande said Monday that over 7,000 people reached displacement camps, organized by the government of Iraq.

According to al-Saadi, it is problematic for Daesh fighters to escape Fallujah, which is almost completely cut off from the rest of its self-imposed caliphate.

Miami: Iraqi Star architect Zaha Hadid dies

March 31, 2016 By administrator

Iraqi Star architect Zaha Hadid dies

Zaha Hadid has died of a heart attack. The Iraqi-British star architect was known for her radical deconstructivist designs.

The Internationally renowned architect, whose designs included the London Aquatics Centre used in the 2012 London Summer Olympics, has died, aged 65, her company said on Thursday, March 31.

“It is with great sadness that Zaha Hadid Architects have confirmed that Dame Zaha Hadid died suddenly in Miami in the early hours of this morning,” the company said in a statement.

“She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital.”

Messages of condolence have started pouring in online, with Hadid trending heavily on social media.

So sad to hear of death of Zaha Hadid, she was an inspiration and her legacy lives on in wonderful buildings in Stratford & around the world

— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) March 31, 2016

We’re deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Zaha Hadid -it’s a sad day for architecture. pic.twitter.com/gPHPlrL0ni

— Barbican Centre (@BarbicanCentre) March 31, 2016

Hadid wanted ‘to make buildings fly’

Hadid’s projects included the MAXXI museum in Rome, the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, and a condominium along Manhattan’s High Line park. Her light and airy style were celebrated around the world. She was one of the most recognized architects of our time.

“Zaha Hadid wants to make buildings fly.” Nicolai Ouroussoff in our Feb 1995 issue. https://t.co/Q9TH0EV5RF pic.twitter.com/X3DSmaNTS1

— Artforum (@Artforum) March 31, 2016

Dame Zaha Hadid was born in 9150 in Baghdad and became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. She studied mathematics at American University in Beirut, and later traveled to London to study at the Architectural Association.

In 1979, Hadid established her own London-based firm and gained international recognition in 1983 with a competition-winning entry – a “horizontal skyscraper” – for The Peak, a leisure and recreational center in Hong Kong. The design for The Peak was never realized, and neither were most of her other radical designs in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Still, much of her work can be found all around the world with several of her designs being featured in the UK, the US, Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

We sincerely regret that such a talented architect as Zaha Hadid left us so early. It’s a sad day for architecture. pic.twitter.com/dt0Q6YWera

— The Culture Trip (@CultureTrip) March 31, 2016

Iraqi Kurdistan: More Mosques than schools 5,337 mosques more on it’s way

February 24, 2016 By administrator

Grand mosques in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Courtesy of Safin/flickr

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— At least 327 mosques at an estimated cost of $30 million were built in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region in the past two years despite the severe economic crisis, and many more are on the way, said the Kurdish religious ministry.

“The cost of these mosques with the cost of those expected to be finished soon will stand at about $40 million,” Mariwan Naqshbandi, the ministry’s spokesman told Rudaw.

The Ministry said that around the foundation work for 50 other mosques has been prepared.
Most of them are built and funded by philanthropists, Naqshbandi said.

The autonomous Kurdistan Region has been facing tough financial difficulties in the last two years due to a budget freeze by the federal government and a sharp decline in oil prices in the world market.

According to Naqshbandi, the number of mosques in Kurdistan has increased from 5,010 in 2013 to 5,337. Most of the newly established mosques located in Erbil Province.

Building a village mosque costs about $80,000-100,000 whereas in urban areas this cost reaches up to half a million dollars.

“Building this big number of mosques in the course of two years of economic crisis is something odd,” said Naqshbandi. “How could people pay this huge money?”

“We can say that a new mosque opens each week,” he revealed.

The religious affairs ministry says that it has strict rules and regulations for building mosques which has been violated by some of the philanthropists.

The distance between two mosques must be at least one Kilometer and the land no less than 2,000 square meters, and must be first registered as the Ministry’s property.

“Some of these mosques in the cities are only 200m away from each other. Some neighborhoods have a lot of mosques while in some others there are none or not enough mosques,” said Naqshbandi, adding that that the ministry cannot resolve the issue because people who build the mosques are sometimes famous religious figures.

Abdullah Saeed, of the Muslim Scholars Union agreed that “in some places the mosques are close to each other, or mosques have been built in neighborhoods where there was no need.”

“In some places by building a mosque the philanthropist has helped government, so we appreciate their support,” Saeed added.

Some believe that the region is in need of more schools and some money from building mosques would have been better donated to this end.

Shorsh Ghafouri, the spokesman for the Ministry of Education says that the region needs at least 300 more schools and kinder gardens.

“In the past two years a number of schools were built by the Kurdish government and people, but the number of philanthropists who would like to establish schools is really few,” Ghafouri said.

Iraqi defense spokesman: Turkish forces withdrawal empty statements, done nothing

December 24, 2015 By administrator

Despite the announcement of a “partial withdrawal” of Turkish forces from a training camp near the ISIS-controlled northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Ankara has done nothing to follow up on itsempty statements, the Iraqi defense ministry says.

In fact there is no Turkish troop withdrawal. There are just statements from Anakara,” said Iraqi defense ministry spokesman Nasir Nouri Mohammed, TASS reported. According to the spokesman, Ankara’s forces “only slightly relocated near the same positions.”

This cannot even be called a “partial withdrawal,” Nouri Mohammed said, let alone a full withdrawal of the Turkish contingent.

Tensions between the two countries have increased dramatically since Turkey reinforced its military deployment in Iraq with about 150 soldiers backed by artillery and around 25 tanks in a base near the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)-controlled northern Iraqi city of Mosul on December 4.

The Iraqi government considered this action as an hostile act in violation of its sovereignty and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops.

Nouri Mohammed expressed hope that Turkey would follow up on its promises and will proceed to the “actual withdrawal” of its contingent. Yet, the spokesman reiterated, “no concrete steps” have been taken by Ankara so far.

On Sunday, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the withdrawal of military troops from Iraq to reduce tensions following international criticism. The decision to pull out troops also came after Iraq brought the issue to the United Nations Security Council.

Yet despite the announcement made by Erdogan on December 20, Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that the troops will remain in Iraq to fight IS militants. According to the PM, Turkish training and equipment mission for Iraq will continue until IS-held Mosul is liberated.

“Within this framework and in line with Iraqi authorities’ demands, we have been providing training and equipment to both the Peshmerga and the local Mosul volunteers. Our support will continue until Mosul is liberated,” Davutoglu said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Addressing national assembly members on Tuesday, Turkish defense minister Ismet Yilmaz said that IS is a direct security threat for Turkey.

“Ensuring Iraq’s stability passes from neutralizing Daesh [the Arabic name for IS]. This can only be possible through the recapture of Mosul, which has, in the first place, strategic importance,” he said.

IS captured Iraq’s second-largest city in 2014. The United States and its allies have been carrying out air strikes against Islamist militants in Iraq since August 2014, but are yet to produce any tangible results.

Barzani the de facto Governor of Erdogan requests Russia avoid Kurdish airspace for Syria missions

December 7, 2015 By administrator

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kareem Sinjari, the interior minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), met with Russian Consul General to Erbil Victor Simakov on Monday to hold talks regarding Kurdistan suspending flights at the Erbil and Sulaimani airports as Russian jets fly over the region on missions to Syria.

Sinjari reportedly asked Simakov to request Moscow find an alternate route for its aircraft and cruise missiles that avoids using the Kurdistan region’s airspace.

Simakov promised to discuss the matter with the Russian government and said that currently there is no other way for Moscow to avoid Kurdish airspace.

Additionally, Simakov told Rudaw that during the meeting the KRG interior minister was informed of the arrival of Russian military aid to Kurdish Peshmerga forces, including light weapons.

In terms of supporting Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against the self-claimed Islamic State, several countries have delivered military assistance to the Kurdistan region, but this is the first time Russia has done so.

On Sunday the Baghdad central government asked that Kurdistan suspend flights at its two airports for 48 hours because Russia is targeting ISIS just across the border in Syria.

This is the second time in less than a month that Kurdistan has suspended all fights at Baghdad’s request due to Russian military action.

Iraqi parliament approves Russian air strikes against ISIL

October 26, 2015 By administrator

After weeks of political wrangling, the Iraqi parliament finally agreed to allow Russia to launch air strikes against the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq, paving the way for the involvement of a powerful new combatant in an already complex battleground in a move that will likely incense the US.

Russia now has official permission to strike ISIL in Iraq, following the launch of an air campaign to degrade and defeat the militant group in Syria upon the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow launched its first air strikes in Syria on Sept. 30, startling the US, which has condemned the operation. Moscow has claimed it is only targeting ISIL terrorists but the US and the West believe that Russia is also targeting areas that do not include ISIL elements and only contain Western-backed moderate rebel groups.

Russia’s foray into Iraq has created another quandary for the US, which has agreed to build a line of communication with Russia to avoid inadvertent incidents in the air between the two air forces that are operating in the same theater for the first time since World War II.

Hakim al-Zamili, the head of the defense and security committee of the Iraqi parliament, announced on Monday that Iraq had struck a deal with Russia to launch operations against ISIL targets in the country. According to a report by Russian news agency Sputnik, once the air strikes are under way, ISIL fighters who might seek safe haven in Iraq after fleeing strikes in Syria will not find safety in Iraq. With the agreement, Russia aims to cut the supply lines of ISIL between Iraq and Syria.

Bush, Blair plotted Iraq war 1 year before invasion had started: White House memo

October 17, 2015 By administrator

Bush and Blair are shaking hands in February 2001. (AFP photo)

A damning White House memo has revealed details of the so-called “deal in blood” forged by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush over the Iraq war.

The document, titled “Secret… Memorandum for the President”, was sent by then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell to President Bush on March 28, 2002, a week before Bush’s summit with Blair at his Crawford ranch in Texas, Britain’s Daily Mail reported on Sunday.

The sensational memo revealed that Blair had agreed to support the war a year before the invasion even started, while publicly the British prime minister was working to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

The document also disclosed that Blair agreed to act as a spin doctor for Bush and convince a skeptical public that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction, which actually did not exist.

In response, Bush would flatter Blair and give the impression that London was not Washington’s poodle but an equal partner in the “special relationship.”

Powell told Bush that Blair “will be with us” on the Iraq war, and assured the president that “”the UK will follow our lead in the Middle East.”

Another sensational memo revealed how Bush used “spies” in the British Labour Party to help him to influence public opinion in the United Kingdom in favor of the Iraq war.

Both documents were obtained and published by The Mail on Sunday. They are part of a number of classified emails stored on the private server of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton which courts have forced her to reveal.

Blair has always denied the claim that he and Bush signed a deal “in blood” at Crawford to launch a war against Iraq that began on March 20, 2003, that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The Powell memo, however, showed how Blair and Bush secretly prepared the Iraq war plot behind closed doors at Crawford.

Powell told Bush: “He will present to you the strategic, tactical and public affairs lines that he believes will strengthen global support for our common cause.”

The top US diplomatic official added that the UK premier has the presentational skills to “make a credible public case on current Iraqi threats to international peace.”

Powell wrote that Blair will “stick with us on the big issues” but he needs to show the British public that “Britain and America are truly equity partners in the special relationship.”

n March 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant violation of international law and under the pretext of finding WMDs. But no such weapons were ever discovered in Iraq.

More than one million Iraqis were killed as the result of the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of the country, according to the California-based investigative organization Project Censored.

The US war in Iraq cost American taxpayers $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, according to a study called Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

Source: presstv.com

Iraqi Christians denied asylum in US, facing looming expulsion

October 1, 2015 By administrator

The Chaldeans being held at Otay have numerous supporters in El Cajon and throughout San Diego County. (Courtesy: East County Magazine/Miriam Raftery)

By Hollie McKay

Nearly two dozen Iraqi Christians who fled ISIS and crossed into the U.S. from Mexico seeking religious asylum have been denied protection and could be booted from American soil within days, a federal official said.

Some 27 Iraqi Christians, known as Chaldeans, were held at the Otay Detention Center in San Diego since entering the U.S. in April and May. Seven have already been extradited, and five more criminally charged with making false statements. In all, 22 have been ordered out of the U.S. and five still have asylum applications pending, according to Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego.

“This is extremely disturbing and wrong,” Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, told FoxNews.com. “I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve been doing this work for more than 20 years. Western governments should allow persecuted minority Christians asylum within their borders. This should be a priority over other asylum seekers.”

“This is extremely disturbing and wrong.”

– Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International

Jacobson and other critics say the Obama administration has turned its back on Christians in the Middle East, whose numbers have dwindled in the face of ISIS, which forces Christians to convert, pay a special tax or face execution in the territory it controls within Iraq and Syria. A Gatestone Institute report notes that since the start of this year, more than 4,200 Muslims have been admitted into the U.S. from Iraq, but only 727 Christians – making it a ratio of around 5 to 1 – despite the fact that Christians are a heavily targeted “infidel” minority.

Mack insisted that the Iraqi nationals in question have not and will not be sent back to their war-torn home country, but instead “repatriated” to “agreed upon” countries like Germany and Sweden.

San Diego is home to the largest population of Chaldeans in the U.S., and several of the 27 held at Otay have family members willing to take them in.

“Until this decision, having a family sponsor has always been a huge positive factor in adjudicating asylum cases,” said Jacobson. “Christians are facing unspeakable torture and atrocities at the hands of ISIS.”

Yet Mack said that there are legal immigration protocols that need to be followed for family sponsorships, which, in this case, were not adhered to by the Chaldeans. Under international law, asylum is only granted in specific emergency situations in which an individual or group requires protection from persecution. A select few of the criminal complaints against the Chaldeans, provided to FoxNews.com by ICE, contain statements and allegations that at least some of them – although born in Iraq – held German passports and had been living there for a number of years. In interviews with officials, some applicants allegedly admitted that their claims of family threats were “fabricated” to assist with their applications. Details regarding the remaining Chaldeans could not be discussed due to the confidentiality of their applicants.

American Center for Democracy CEO Rachel Ehrenfeld pointed out that all refugees – regardless of religion – should be heavily scrutinized by officials before being granted entry into the U.S.

“I’m not surprised by ICE ruling, especially since it seems several, if not all, lied on their asylum application,” she said.

But Jacobson said the process may “make it impossible for any Christian man, woman or child facing persecution because of their faith” to gain entry and holds grave fears for the religious minority. No one disputes that the Chaldeans are originally from Iraq, and given that they can’t return to their homeland, Jacobson wonders why they can’t live with family in the U.S.

Iraq’s Christian population is one of the most ancient in the world, but is teetering on extinction amid Islamic extremism and government corruption – dwindling from around 1.5 million in 2003 to well below 200,000 now. Under the reign of ISIS, Christians in the region have been brutally persecuted and intentionally crucified, with their own churches reportedly used as torture chambers in which they are given the grim option of converting to Islam or being slaughtered.

“I feel like my world has been turned back to 100 years ago,” one Christian farmer who fled Mosul, Iraq, during the ISIS takeover told FoxNews.com. “That day was like Armageddon. ISIS is killing us slowly.”

The militant group has also destroyed countless time-honored Christian monasteries and holy sites in a twisted attempt to eradicate the faith. In Defense of Christians, a persecution watchdog group, earlier this month lobbied on Capitol Hill for lawmakers to pass a resolution characterizing ISIS’s targeting of the Christian minority as “genocide.”

Source: FOXNEWS

Is Iraqi Kurdistan splitting apart … again? Putting all of the KRG’s eggs in one Turkish basket,

September 28, 2015 By administrator

A picture taken on July 3, 2014 shows the building of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region's parliament in Arbil, Kurdistan's capital in northern Iraq. The president of Kurdistan, Massud Barzani asked its parliament to start organising a referendum on independence. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

A picture taken on July 3, 2014 shows the building of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region’s parliament in Arbil, SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

By Denise Natali,

On a recent episode of the popular Iraqi Kurdish talk show “With Ranj” produced in Sulaimaniyah, the four participants — all members of diverse political parties — debated the Kurdistan Region’s political and financial crises. The discussion was most notable for its tone and substance. Instead of talking about the need for an independent Kurdistan, a topic that has preoccupied mainstream media and analysts inside the Beltway, it focused on just the opposite: political and economic trends that are chipping away at the region’s autonomy and stability. These concerns are resonating throughout the Kurdistan Region, where local populations are criticizing the Kurdistan Regional Government’s opaque oil exports, endemic corruption and failure to pay civil servant salaries, and questioning the legitimacy of Massoud Barzani’s presidency. They are further deepening political and geographic divides that if left unchecked could split the region administratively and/or create civil unrest.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s current tensions reflect the legacies of the Kurdish civil war (1994-98), which divided the region into “yellow” and “green” zones representing the territorial influence of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), respectively. After the war ended, the two parties ran their own administrations in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah for eight years until they “re-unified” in 2006 in the effort to enhance Kurdish leverage in a federal Iraqi state. The merge created a single KRG in Erbil and a Kurdish block in Baghdad, but it never resolved internal disputes over authority, revenues and resources.

As the balance of power shifted in the region, Kurdish power struggles have resurfaced. The two main Kurdish parties are now making distinct claims on resources as a means of affirming provincial leverage. Competitions for access to Kirkuk’s oil have also emerged, not only between the KDP and PUK, but also with other claimants such as Iraqi populations and Baghdad and Kirkuk officials. Even then, the KRG’s current crisis extends beyond traditional party rivalries over revenues and resources. It represents a popular movement driven by a combination of opposition groups, independents and parties in the Kurdish government that are all demanding greater decentralization, financial transparency, democratic institutions and the rule of law. The movement has gained traction in the presidency crisis, creating a clear division between those who regard Barzani’s authority as legitimate and those who do not, particularly since his term expired on Aug. 19.

The region’s ongoing financial crisis is reinforcing these political divides. Whereas most local populations initially blamed Baghdad for cutting the KRG budget last year, many now fault leading KRG officials. One Kurdish resident in Erbil argued that by “placing all of the KRG’s eggs in the Turkish basket, the KRG has not only undermined necessary relations with Baghdad, but has left the region dependent on Turkey and more financially vulnerable than ever before.” Fueling these claims is the opaque Kurdish oil sector. Officials on the oil and gas committee in the Iraqi Kurdistan parliament affirm that “no one knows where the KRG’s oil revenues are actually going.” Although the KRG has about 16 bank accounts into which revenues from its oil sales are supposedly deposited, the KRG minister of finance has access to one Turkish Halkbank account — which has only $14 million in deposits — while the minister of natural resources and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani control all other bank accounts.

Indeed, when it comes to existential threats to the Kurdistan Region, the Kurds remain generally united. They are committed to Kurdish identity, territory and resources. They proudly identify with their peshmerga forces, who are courageously defending Kurdish borders against the Islamic State. Most Kurds also are aware that Baghdad currently has little to offer and that the Kurdistan Region has to find an alternative means to financially sustain itself, at least for the time being.

Still, political divisions are being encouraged in the hyper-fragmented Iraqi state and fight against IS as local groups seek to gain power, resources and recognition. The result has been an inadvertent enhancing of Barzani’s power through coalition military support, stronger reactions by those seeking political reform and deepening distrust between groups. Since the presidency crisis commenced, the KDP has added three checkpoints along the road from Sulaimaniyah to Erbil. It also prevented some officials from the Gorran movement, a former opposition group now in the parliament, from entering Erbil a few weeks ago. These trends have strengthened the role of political hard-liners who are unwilling to compromise. Despite numerous meetings between the four Kurdish political parties and the KRG — otherwise known as the P4+1 — to resolve the presidency crisis, no full solution is in sight. Many argue that the issue could continue until the next election in 2017, which, according to one Kurdish official, will be “neck-breaking.”

At the moment, a formal split between regions or a mass mobilization is unlikely, given the war against IS, deep party patronage networks and no clear alternative offered by opposition groups. Yet, as the financial crisis deepens, corruption continues, political legitimacy is ignored and calls for decentralization go unheeded, the KRG may have an administrative breakup, even in de-facto form. At worst, these issues will continue to fester through open and silent resistance that may further stifle the stability and economic development of the Kurdistan Region.

Source: Al monitor

Denise Natali is a columnist for Al-Monitor. She is a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University where she specializes on regional energy politics, Middle East politics and the Kurdish issue. The views

UN: 1/4 of Iraqi population to need aid by year-end

September 26, 2015 By administrator

The United Nations (UN) says a quarter of Iraq’s population is expected to be in need of humanitarian aid by the end of the year, as the country is threatened by worsening conditions fueled by the terrorist activities of Daesh.

The UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Dominique Bartsch, said on Friday that the current situation is threatening some 10 million Iraqis, forcing many to leave the country.

Bartsch said the humanitarian situation in Iraq was “worsening dramatically,” after Daesh militants started taking over territory in the country last year.

According to the UN official, the most basic humanitarian aid has been reduced as a result of a lack of funding.

“Many people have reached the end on the line. They no longer have the possibility to support themselves. Many will say that the only future is outside of Iraq,” Bartsch added.

The UN official also voiced concern for some one million Kurdish Iraqis currently displaced inside the country, who are also in serious need of assistance.

He added that “a combination of minimum humanitarian assistance, but also more sustained support…, for example education and rebuilding livelihoods” was required in order to prevent more Iraqis from fleeing their country.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently announced that it had opened two new camps for internally displaced Iraqis in the capital, Baghdad, aimed at providing shelter for some the 3,500 Iraqis who have been forced to flee violence in Anbar Province.

This comes as Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Baghdad needed more logistical aid instead of foreign soldiers in its fight against Daesh militants.

Since the terrorists started operating in Iraq in June 2014, they have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in the country, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.

Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer fighters have launched joint operations aimed at regaining areas under Daesh control.