Thousands of Iraqis flee fighting around Al-Ramadi

Iraq’s ministry of displacement and migration said on Friday that thousands of Iraqi citizens have fled from the fighting between the army and Daesh militants around Al-Ramadi, the capital city of Al-Anbar Governorate, Anadolu has reported. People are leaving areas controlled by the extremist group, explained the ministry.

Ministry official Dia Sallal said that more than 4,500 families had fled from their homes to the north and west of Al-Ramadi, to go to areas controlled by Sunni fighters and Iraqi forces in Al-Anbar.

The Director of the Sunni Charity and the Head of the Government Committee, which is supervising the issue of the refugees, Abdul-Latif Al-Hemim, visited the displaced families in Al-Anbar. He told Anadolu that his committee is offering basic humanitarian aid to the families until the military operations end and they are able to return home.

The Iraqi army retook Al-Ramadi from Daesh in December and the government is clearing unexploded ordnance in the city in order to repair the infrastructure ahead of the return of the internally-displaced persons (IDPs). According to Al-Hemim, a number of places are now ready for the return of the IDPs, and added that all area across Al-Ramadi would be ready to receive their residents by 10 April.

Daesh invaded the north and west of Iraq and controlled wide swathes of land in the wake of the collapse of the Iraqi army in the summer of 2014. Since then, about 3.2 million Iraqis have left those areas, fleeing from Daesh extremism and the ongoing military operations.

The Iraqi forces, supported by Sunni and Shia fighters and US aerial cover, have succeeded in retaking 40 per cent of the lands held by Daesh.

Resettling IDPs in the liberated areas has been happening very slowly due to the land mines and massive destruction left behind by the militants.