Iraqis running out of food and medicine in besieged Falluja

0
187

A senior Iraqi official has appealed to the US-led coalition to air-drop food and medicine to tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Falluja, the Islamic State stronghold under siege by security forces.

The city’s population is suffering from a shortage of food, medicine and fuel, according to residents reached by phone, and local media said several people had died due to starvation and insufficient medical care. Insecurity and poor communications inside the city make those reports difficult to verify.

Sohaib al-Rawi, the governor of western Anbar province where Falluja is located, said an air-drop was the only way to deliver humanitarian supplies to residents after Islamic State mined the entrances to the city and prevented civilians from leaving.

“No force can enter and secure (the delivery) … There is no option but for airplanes to transport aid,” he said in an interview to al-Hadath TV late on Monday, adding the situation was deteriorating by the day.

Falluja, a long-time bastion of Sunni Muslim militants located 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, was the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, six months before the group that emerged from al Qaeda swept through large parts of northern and western Iraq and neighboring Syria.