Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CIVVIES OF MOSUL
UK will send Mosul £40m to boost its restoration
opponents in IS. Maamouri added: “Hawija is bracing for bloody infighting among IS members, the most violent since the group took over Hawija in June 2014.”
On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-abadi declared final victory over IS in Mosul.
He said the recapture of the city was an end of the self-styled caliphate declared by Baghdadi in 2014.
The Mosul campaign has resulted in thousands of deaths and displaced nearly 900,000 people.
Amnesty International has described the battle for Mosul as a “civilian catastrophe”, with more than 5,800 non-combatants killed in the western part of the city.
Chiefs at Amnesty say both sides breached international law.
IS were accused of summary killings and using civilians as human shields, while Iraqi forces and the coalition are said to have failed to protect civilians.
But a senior British commander hit back. Major Gen Rupert Jones, the deputy commander of the international anti-is coalition, said: “At no stage did they have the courtesy to engage the coalition to ask what our targeting process is.
“So to me it is a deeply discredited report and does a great disservice to Amnesty International, but more importantly a great disservice to the Iraqi security forces and to the government of Iraq.
“Firstly, the Iraqi security forces have put the safety of civilians as the absolute centrepiece of the liberation of the city over the last nine months – that is beyond question.
“Does that mean there have been no violations? No, of course there have, but whenever those are presented to the government of Iraq, they are taken very, very seriously.
“I would say it is the most sophisticated targeting and strike process in history.” There is growing anger about the huge losses among the coalition of Kurdish Peshmerga, Iraqi troops, Iraqi police and Shia militia, thought to run into the “many thousands”.
Yesterday it emerged the Iraqi parliament will interrogate Lt Gen Shaker Jawdat, the commander of the Federal Police, over claims he is guilty of “delinquency” during the battle.
The parliament’s security committee chairman Hakem al-zamili said: “Losses sustained by the Federal Police are the gravest compared to other security troops, which is evidence to his frail military command in battles.” BRITAIN is sending £40million of aid to help the people of Mosul rebuild their lives after victory against Islamic State was declared.
Funds from the UK government will provide vital items including clean drinking water, food, tents, cooking equipment, soap, and jabs against deadly diseases.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel yesterday said Britain will also give extra cash to a UN scheme that has already helped 200,000 Iraqis return to Mosul.
The move follows the declaration of the city’s liberation after three years of fighting and oppression by IS, also known as Daesh, including savage executions, abductions and forced marriages.
Ms Patel, delivering an urgent statement in the Commons on the humanitarian situation in Mosul, said: “This funding will help to ensure that the displaced communities, the displaced people, will receive the much-needed shelter, food and medical support and will provide protection services for the most vulnerable, including minorities, and women and girls.”
To date UK support has delivered shelter kits and household items to 74,000 people, and healthcare to more than 115,000 people.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has buried a report expected to show that Saudi Arabia funds extremism in Britain. She refused to publish the long-awaited paper on national security grounds, instead putting out a 550-word summary which did not even mention Saudi.