UN Fears for Fallujah Civilians as Iraq Begins Offensive

Voice of America
By: Sharon Behn

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United Nations officials are worried about thousands of families who may be trapped in Fallujah, as Iraqi forces start an offensive to retake the city from Islamic State militants.

The U.N. refugee agency on Monday said it was worried about the estimated 10,000 families who “are unable to leave Fallujah and who are in a very precarious situation.”

Some 80 families have fled over the past few days, but for some, “their escape was at the cost of lost lives, including women and children,” said UNHCR’s assistant representative in Iraq, Leila Jane Nassif…

Islamic State has been steadily losing physical ground as the fight to defeat the militants in both Iraqi and Syria has intensified.

According to The Soufan Group, or TSG, which specializes in strategic security intelligence, the extremist group will likely react to its current losses by going underground until conditions allow it to appear again.

“Despite collective military action against the Islamic State’s strongholds, the vacuums, divisions, and tensions that fueled the group’s rise are as bad as ever,” TSG wrote Monday…

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