A senior UN official has warned that Iraq is facing a “very serious” humanitarian crisis as the country’s battle against Islamic State militants has displaced hundreds of thousands of people across Iraq.
Speaking in Baghdad on Sunday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said more than half of the 1.8 million people who have been displaced by fighting in Iraq lack proper accommodation.
She added that the number is creating a “massive shelter crisis” as a large of number of the refugees are living in open areas such as parks, unfinished buildings and schools.
Amos also said that thousands of children are unable to go back to school in Dohuk district of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region because the people who have come to seek refuge at schools refuse to leave.
Iraq has been fighting the IS terrorists since they took control of Mosul on June 10. The takeover was followed by the fall of the city of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad. The control of Tikrit was later retaken by the Iraqi army.
The terrorists currently control parts of eastern Syria and Iraq’s northern and western regions. They have threatened all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Izadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some other Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.
