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Red Cross: 7 treated for exposure to toxic agents near Mosul

March 3, 2017 at 2:55 pm

Image of Iraqi women and children who fled from the violence between the Iraqi Army and Daesh terrorists in Mosul, Iraq 2 March 2017 [Yunus Keleş/Anadolu Agency]

Five children and two women are receiving treatment for exposure to chemical agents near the Iraqi city of Mosul, where the Daesh extremist organisation is fighting US and Iran-backed Iraqi forces, the International Committee of the Red Cross said today.

The ICRC “condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons during fighting around the Iraqi city of Mosul”, it said in a statement.

The organisation said it did not know which side used the chemical agents that caused blisters, redness in the eyes, irritation, vomiting, and coughing.

Read: 25 children starve to death in Iraq near Mosul

ICRC medical teams were supporting local medical teams treating the seven patients, who were admitted over the past two days to Rozhawa hospital in Erbil, east of Mosul, the organisation said.

The ICRC had reinforced 13 medical centres in areas surrounding Mosul with capacity to treat gas attacks victims, ahead of the offensive that started in October.

Read: Security concerns force UN to pause aid operation in east Mosul

The United States and its allies themselves have extensively used unconventional weapons. Since the Gulf War in 1990-1991, the US used depleted uranium rounds in Iraq, leading to a notable rise in cancer in Iraqi civilians. During the illegal US occupation of Iraq, American units used white phosphorus on civilian areas of Fallujah extensively, prohibited under international law.

Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January after almost four months of fighting and launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris River on 19 February. Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has failed in his promise to liberate the city by the end of 2016.

Defeating the Daesh militants in Mosul would crush the Iraqi wing of the caliphate declared by the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, in 2014, over parts of Iraq and Syria. However, it would not defeat the group outright, with most experts agreeing that Daesh would revert to guerrilla warfare.