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United Nations / AFP
The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged the international community to live up to its “moral and political obligation†to aid Iraqi civilians who fled an operation against the IS group in Fallujah.
Council members “welcomed the successful counteroffensive†launched by Iraqi forces and coalition partners on May 22-23 to retake Fallujah, a key extremist stronghold west of Baghdad that had been besieged for months.
IS has lost 45 percent of the territory it held at the height of its strength, noted French Ambassador Francois Delattre, who holds the rotating council presidency.
But more than 60,000 people have been forced from their homes in the area over the past month, and a sudden influx of civilians pouring out of the city center last week has left the aid community unable to cope.
Thousands of families have nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.
The UN’s refugee agency said 20 more camps would be needed in the coming weeks for those displaced, adding that it was “urgently†seeking $17.5 million to meet immediate needs. Foreign countries supporting Iraq have a “moral and political obligation to help those in need,†Delattre told reporters.