Bombardment in Mosul takes heavy toll on civilians

A displaced Iraqi boy who fled his home with his family carries a school bag at Khazer camp, in this file photo. (Reuters)
Updated 11 April 2017
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Bombardment in Mosul takes heavy toll on civilians

IRBIL: Since she got struck by mortar shrapnel in Mosul just over a week ago, 10-year-old Nabaa has not been able to speak. A shard in her skull damaged part of her brain and doctors are not sure if she will ever be able to speak again.
The girl’s family had been forced to flee their home in the northern Iraqi city because fighting was raging around them, government artillery and helicopters were bombarding their neighborhood, and their food supplies were running out, said Nabaa’s mother, Umm Abdul-Rahman.
But as they neared Iraqi military lines the night of March 31, mortars hit, wounding Nabaa and her two brothers, 7-year-old Basem and 11-year-old Abdul-Rahman. The mother said she saw three others lying wounded on the ground after the strike but she did not know their fate.
The family is among a large number of civilians who have been caught in the middle of what appears to be a far more brutal battle over the western half of Mosul than the preceding fight for the east.
In the west, Iraqi government forces trying to wrest back the city from Daesh are relying on heavier firepower, including extensive barrages with mortars, rocket launchers and some improvised systems without guidance mechanisms.
While the east was retaken by Iraq’s special forces, much of the fighting in the west is done by militarized police units that have less experience in urban battle. Iraqi forces recaptured the east at the end of January and moved against the west in mid-February.
“They see resistance and implement a carpet-bombing approach to advance. They do this to reduce their own casualties. This is disastrous for the civilians,” said Col. Ahmed Shawki, a military analyst and retired Iraqi army officer based in the northern city of Irbil.
At the same time, Daesh militants in some cases are preventing civilians from leaving, keeping them in harm’s way as shields.
The number of casualties is hard to establish because only some of the wounded reach hospitals and most of the dead are buried immediately. At least 300 people were killed in western Mosul up to the beginning of April, according to the UN. The World Health Organization says 1,683 wounded civilians were referred to hospitals between Feb. 18 and April 8. Johannes Schad, a doctor in West Irbil Emergency Hospital, said that about 60 percent of the victims have blast injuries, mostly from shelling.
Some 1,600 civilians were killed or wounded during the 100 days of fighting to recapture Mosul’s less densely populated east. Dr. Shalan Ali, the Health Ministry official in charge of Ninevah province, thinks up to a thousand have already been killed in the west.
The worst single attack came on March 17, when an airstrike by the US-led coalition hit a building in the New Mosul neighborhood, killing more than 100 civilians who were sheltering inside. The US military is investigating the strike, and officials say Daesh militants — who have been seen elsewhere forcing civilians into buildings to use them as shields — may have played a role.
The shelling in western Mosul has been much more intense than in the east.
One police artillery unit based outside the city said they alone fired up to 200 shells a day. Police Lt. Col. Younes Sultan Jadalla told The Associated Press that they use drone footage to choose targets and only fire if there are no civilians nearby.
Drone footage taken by the AP in the Dawasa neighborhood of western Mosul on April 5 shows entire streets reduced to rubble, with deep craters dug up by airstrikes. By comparison, eastern Mosul was generally preserved, with damage mainly concentrated on individual buildings and road junctions.
Basem Mohammed, a resident of western Mosul’s Nablous neighborhood, said Daesh militants had a position in a nearby park from which they fired at Iraqi forces. In an apparent response from government forces, his street was hit by mortars on March 8, with shells hitting his neighbors’ houses, wounding several people.
He was wounded in the leg by mortar fire a week later, as he and his family fled.
Much of the destruction is wrought by Iraqi and coalition air power. An analysis of bombing in western Mosul between March 8 and 25, conducted by Human Rights Watch and using satellite imagery, identified 780 impact sites that may have been caused by large, air-delivered munitions, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of buildings. The analysis called the destruction comparable in intensity to the Russian-Syrian air attacks on Aleppo in September and October last year.
Daesh militants, too, are shelling the areas that have slipped out of their control.
Among their victims is Nashwan Jamal, 25, who was hit on March 11 in the Tel Alruman neighborhood, four days after it was taken by Iraqi special forces. Jamal, his brother and a friend were sitting on the roof of their home when a mortar landed, wounding him in the leg.
Several people who escaped western Mosul told the AP that Daesh forbade people to leave. Omar Marwan said Daesh militants told people on his street that they had planted a bomb so that they would not flee.
“They told us, stay in the house, you can’t get out. One of them even said, you have to stay until it is destroyed. No one can leave,” said Alaa Hassan, 27, from the New Mosul neighborhood. “We tried to escape when they were busy fighting. But then we ran into them and they shot at us.”
Alaa Hassan’s wife was killed in the March 17 airstrike, and his 4-year-old daughter, Hawra, was badly burned.
Hawra’s grandmother, Alia Ali, said the militants would not let them leave even after the airstrike on their house. “I went to them and told them we have a burned child and we need to take her out and they said no. They said, you have to stay here with us. And you will die here with us.” They reached Iraqi lines two days later.


Queen Rania of Jordan addresses Gaza’s humanitarian crisis with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni

Updated 17 sec ago
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Queen Rania of Jordan addresses Gaza’s humanitarian crisis with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni

  • Queen Rania emphasized the severe shortage of food, medical supplies and shelter in Gaza
  • Queen Rania and Giorgia Meloni reaffirmed the strong ties between Rome and Amman

LONDON: Queen Rania of Jordan addressed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday, during her brief visit to the country.

Meloni hosted Queen Rania at Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome, where they discussed the humanitarian crisis caused by Israeli military actions in Gaza, the official Petra agency reported.

Queen Rania emphasized the severe shortage of food, medical supplies and shelter following the Israeli suspension of aid relief deliveries to Gaza. She highlighted the increasing orphan crisis in Gaza, where more than 39,000 Palestinian children have lost one or both parents since October 2023.

Queen Rania and Meloni reaffirmed the strong ties between Rome and Amman. They highlighted the significance of educational projects and family protection initiatives in Jordan, which the Italian Development Cooperation supports.


US energy secretary to visit the UAE on first international trip

Updated 12 min 3 sec ago
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US energy secretary to visit the UAE on first international trip

  • Chris Wright’s visit to Abu Dhabi follows agreement on several deals between the US, UAE in March
  • Wright to meet ministers, senior investment leaders to discuss accelerating bilateral trade

LONDON: The US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is visiting the UAE this week on his first international trip.

Wright’s visit to Abu Dhabi follows agreement on several deals between the US and the UAE in March, totaling $1.4 trillion in investments across energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence.

His discussions with senior UAE ministers and officials will focus on enhancing collaboration to drive sustainable economic growth and energy innovation in both countries, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Among those meeting Wright are Suhail Mohamed Al-Mazrouei, the minister of energy and infrastructure; Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, the minister of industry and advanced technology; Yousef Al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the US; and Martina Strong, US ambassador to the UAE.

Wright will also meet senior leaders in the energy, AI, and investment sectors in the UAE to discuss technological collaboration, accelerating bilateral trade, and strengthening joint investment initiatives, WAM added.

Al-Jaber said that Wright’s visit “reflects the strength and depth of the UAE-US strategic relationship and our shared commitment to energy security, economic growth, and technological advancement.”

He added: “As we look to the future, we see vast opportunities to deepen collaboration across energy, infrastructure, AI, and industry — anchored in the pro-growth, pro-investment, and pro-people approach that both our nations champion.”

Wright said that the US and the UAE will continue discussions to strengthen their strategic relationship and support recent UAE investments in the US while promoting global energy security.

Wright and Al-Jaber are to co-host a Future Energy Leaders Majlis during the visit, and have invited Emirati and American youth leaders, some Ivy League alumni, and representatives from the US Department of Energy and the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.

The UAE is expanding its energy presence in the US through strategic investments in hydrogen, renewables, LNG (liquefied natural gas), and chemicals, which include partnerships with ExxonMobil and NextDecade, WAM added.


OIC condemns Israeli decision to close 6 UNRWA schools in Jerusalem

Updated 09 April 2025
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OIC condemns Israeli decision to close 6 UNRWA schools in Jerusalem

  • OIC said Israel’s decision is an illegal attempt to undermine the UN agency’s role in Jerusalem
  • Israeli authorities notified 6 UNRWA schools that they will be closed within 30 days

LONDON: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the Israeli authorities’ decision to close six schools of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in Jerusalem.

The OIC condemned Israel’s decision as an illegal attempt to undermine the UN agency’s role in the occupied city, calling it a blatant violation of the UN Charter and Resolution 302 (IV), which established the agency’s mandate in December 1949.

In 2024, Israel passed a law that prohibits the operations of UNRWA in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Since October 2023, Israeli attacks in Gaza have resulted in the demolition or damage of numerous UNRWA schools and health centers.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities notified six UNRWA schools in Jerusalem’s neighborhoods of Shuafat, Silwan, Sur Baher, and Wadi Al-Joz that they will be closed within 30 days.

The OIC said the decision would deprive Palestinian refugee children of their fundamental right to education and seek instead to impose the Israeli curriculum on them.

The OIC urged all states to support UNRWA with political, financial, and legal assistance to continue serving millions of Palestinian refugees and protecting their rights, as outlined in UN Resolution 194, the Wafa news agency reported.


UN: Almost 7.7 million in South Sudan face ‘crisis’ hunger levels

Updated 09 April 2025
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UN: Almost 7.7 million in South Sudan face ‘crisis’ hunger levels

  • The deeply impoverished nation has battled instability and insecurity since independence in 2011
  • Violence between forces allied to the president and his deputy further threatens to destabilize the country

JUBA: Almost 7.7 million people in South Sudan face crisis levels of hunger, the United Nations said Wednesday, many located in the country’s restive northeast rocked by recent clashes.
The deeply impoverished nation has battled instability and insecurity since independence in 2011, with violence between forces allied to the president and his deputy further threatening to destabilize the country.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement Wednesday that 7.7 million people face the third-highest category of need – defined as “crisis, emergency, or catastrophic.”
“This is close to record highs,” the statement said.
Around 63,000 people were defined as of the highest need and 2.53 million the category below, most located in the northeastern Upper Nile State region, a spokesperson said.
That part of the country is enduring an uptick in violence as forces allied to President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar clash.
Machar is currently under house arrest in capital Juba, leaving his party to appoint Stephen Par Kuol as interim leader.
The WFP said the Upper Nile region was the “most impacted by the escalation of conflict,” with one million people facing “high levels of hunger.”
“There is no shelter at all and there is scarcity of food,” Reath Yian Ulang, 32, said from Ulang county in Upper Nile State.
“We used to rely on food brought by traders from Ethiopia but because of the current crisis the traders have all fled back to Ethiopia in fear,” the father-of-four said by phone.
“People now drink water from the swamps.”
The agency also said efforts to get life-saving assistance to those in the direst need was being hampered by the violence.
“Insecurity has forced WFP to pause distributions in six counties in the region for the safety of our staff, partners and the people we serve,” it said.
Additionally, more than 1.1 million people have fled to South Sudan since the start of the two-year civil war in Sudan – most arriving in the Upper Nile region – and almost half are facing “catastrophic” levels of hunger, WFP added in the statement.
South Sudan is also grappling with a cholera outbreak, with UNICEF saying roughly 40,000 cases have been reported since September including almost 700 deaths – with children disproportionately affected.
The United States’ decision to slash international aid has also impacted the country, with humanitarian workers warning children were dying as a result of remote facilities being closed.


Gaza rescuer risks life to save victim of Israel strike

A Palestinian boy squats on the rubble of a building at the site of an Israeli strike on a residential area in Gaza City.
Updated 09 April 2025
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Gaza rescuer risks life to save victim of Israel strike

  • In a video, civil defense member Shaghnobi can be seen desperately trying to pull wounded man out from under a mound of rubble after a strike on a school on Thursday

GAZA CITY: Arriving in the deadly aftermath of an Israeli strike in northern Gaza last week, rescuer Nooh Al-Shaghnobi risked his life to aid the wounded despite warnings of another imminent attack.
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, civil defense member Shaghnobi can be seen desperately trying to pull a wounded man out from under a mound of rubble after a strike on a school on Thursday.
As he was working, a fresh evacuation order was issued by the Israeli military, warning of another strike on the same site, a school sheltering displaced people from across the territory.
“The scene was terrifying” as people fled the building, Shaghnobi told AFP, referring to the Dar Al-Arqam school which Gaza’s civil defense said served as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
“I became anxious, and the injured person grew even more distressed,” he said.
“I tried to calm him down, telling him, ‘I will stay with you until your last breath. We will die together if we must.’“
Shaghnobi said he dug with his bare hands through the debris to reach the wounded man’s leg which was pinned under concrete.
“He kept calling out: ‘Why did you come back, man? Leave me to die. Get out.’“
Shaghnobi said at one point the pair were the only people left in the building as Israeli reconnaissance drones flew overhead.
“I kept trying to pull him out, but I couldn’t. I said to myself: ‘This is the moment we die.’“
It was then that one of Shaghnobi’s colleagues rushed over, warning that they had just 10 minutes to save anyone still alive before another strike hit.
Together they pulled with all their strength until the man’s leg was freed.
“In that moment, my eyes welled up with tears, my body shaking from exhaustion,” he said.
While initially hesitant, Shaghnobi’s other colleagues arrived to help carry the wounded man to safety.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 31 people, including children, were killed in last Thursday’s strike on the school in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City.
Since the Gaza war began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in schools and other facilities in a bid to escape the deadly violence.
Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once since the war started.
On Wednesday, a strike on a residential block in Gaza City that housed many displaced people killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 60, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a “senior Hamas terrorist” in the attack.